John Mueller from Google asked if it would be okay not to include a contact us and about us page on your website. The reason is that they would only add it if Google wanted it (but don’t do things for Google, said Google), but not for users. John Mueller replied: “I can think of good reasons for some sites to have these types of pages, but after checking, there is nothing in our search developer documentation that suggests this is necessary.”
He said this X after the question was: “I’m trying to convince my company to add a contact and/or about us page to our website. We are an online directory/blog for a niche sport (but run by a trading company electronic in this sport). Do you have any advice you can give them about why it’s important?”
But that doesn’t mean you have to go and remove the about us and contact us pages from your site. In most cases, I must assume that your users want to be able to read more about your site and also have a way to contact you?
Here are those posts:
Is it to get user feedback? I would check with your users if this is the case.
— John (@JohnMu) March 25, 2024
And yes, I know I shouldn’t do anything just because Google wants me to; I generally stay out of the way and just try to be helpful. But I hear this is a make or break rule.
— Jaclyn Brandt (@jaclynbrandt) March 25, 2024
I think there are good reasons for some sites to have these types of pages, but after checking, there’s nothing in our search developer documentation that suggests this is necessary.
— John (@JohnMu) March 25, 2024
Google Shopping now requires a contact method to be in product results. So there may be some vertical search features that need contact forms.
Also, Google said that it will not penalize for not including an email address on your website. Also, be aware that Google may try to use your contact form to contact you about SEO issues, Google has talked about this not just once, but twice.
Also note that it’s in the Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines:
Yes, and one of those two sets of documents is about what Google recommends site owners do.
— John (@JohnMu) March 26, 2024
I’m a little worried that bots can also write convincing pages about us when asked :-). In German we have a saying “papier nimmt alles an” (ca. you can write anything on paper, it doesn’t make it true). pic.twitter.com/1NbjEwAAP9
— John (@JohnMu) March 26, 2024
Here was my half-joking response:
It’s really hard to know what to say :-).
Maybe “critical thinking is a ranking factor” works?
— John (@JohnMu) March 26, 2024
Discussion in the forum a X.
