Creating an “About Me/About Us” page on your blog has always been a “best practice” in blogging, but nowadays it has actually become more important then ever with the rise of the E-A-T criteria (Expertise-Authoritativeness-Trustworthiness) in the way Google ranks the credibility of sites.
This is a crucial issue in the 2020s that was not emphasized nearly as much even 10 years ago. Now more than ever, Google wants to know who is behind a website, and what credentials they have to be writing about the topics they do.
Therefore, creating an About Me page is no longer a nice add-on in my view; in the age of E-A-T it is a must to let Google and readers know who you are, and add credibility to your website.
Here are the main things to include in an About Me/Us Page:
- Your name (and photo if you like)
- Your background
- Why you created the site
- What your experience or credentials are in the niche
- Links to certifications and other external things to add credibility
Of course the contents of an About Me page will differ depending on the topic of the website and how seriously Google takes it in terms of making sure the information is correct if it concerns more “life and death” matters.
We’ll try and cover how to structure your About page for different types of websites in a way that adds credibility and authority.
Creating an About Page – The Basics
For total blogging beginners who may have Googled this just a few days into their journey, let’s run through the WordPress basics for creating an About Page.
Just go to Pages…..Add New on your left hand side Dashboard of WordPress. You’re then ready to go creating your About Me page, which you can then add to the sidebar or footer bar of your website once it’s done.
Creating About Me Pages for Hobby Sites
Let’s start with About Me pages for more hobby based sites that are not so “mission critical” in terms of how Google assesses them for authority. This could be a site about any sport you’re into, video games, fashion or any other passion that you pursue for fun in your spare time.
You can be more relaxed about how you create these pages, because Google isn’t as obsessed about E-A-T on these type of sites as they are on medical/finance type niches, where they need to make sure the information is correct.
With these sites, it’s more about detailing your general background interest and experience in the topic, that makes you a good person to be writing about it.
Here are some things to include on your About Me Page:
- Your name and a photo if you like
- Photos of you actually doing the hobby yourself are useful if it applies to the niche.
- How long you’ve been doing the hobby and what your experience is.
- Any training/qualifications/credentials if you have them.
- For hobby style sites, Google specifically mentions that everyday experience is perfectly fine for E-A-T.
- Why you set up the site.Your own story as to how you got into the topic.
- Who’s your site for and what sort of information do you provide? What value will they get out of reading your content?
- Link to your social media profiles if you like
- Also link back to your About Page from your social media as well.
- Link to other sites you have as well if you want.
- Share pictures and information about your personal life if you like, but this is entirely up to you.
Here is a perfect example of an About Me page for a hobby site. You can be fun and relaxed about how you present the information, and just tell the readers about yourself.
More generally, see here for a post with 25 different examples of About Me pages, to give you an idea for different formats and layouts.
More than anything though, it’s important to be honest about your level of expertise in a topic. If you are simply creating a blog because you’re in the process or learning about something yourself and want to share with others what you’ve learned, this is totally fine.
Many bloggers have taken this route and been very successful just being honest about what they did and didn’t know. You don’t have to be a seasoned expert to run a successful blog on something.
In fact, the learner’s mindset can be better in a lot of cases, because you’ll be able to see what questions beginners would ask and answer them in a concise way that a decades long seasoned expert can sometimes lose because they’ve forgotten what it’s like to be newbie in the topic.
Include pictures of you doing your hobby on your About Page if it’s relevant
Creating About Me Pages for YMYL Niches
There are some topics that Google takes more seriously in terms of making sure authors are credible. These are known as YMYL (Your Money, Your Life) topics, and if you have a website in one of these spaces, you need to do a little more more on your About Me page to add more authority
Here are some spaces generally considered YMYL:
- Health/Medical
- Finance
- Mental Health
- News
- Legal topics
- Education
- Any other topic where if the information provided is wrong, there could be more serious consequences for the person receiving the information.
Google is far more cautious about granting authority and trust to sites in these kinds of spaces, and wants to see more evidence of real expertise and credentials from site owners and writers.
Therefore it’s a good idea to take more steps on your About Me page in these niches. Here are some suggestions:
- Do all of the things we mentioned above, plus:
- Link to any podcasts you have done with other content creators.
- Link to any guest conferences you have spoken at.
- Link to guest posts and other collabs you’ve done with other people in your niche.
- Link to reseach papers/studies you’ve authored if applicable.
- Link to pages which demonstrate you are a certified professional in a certain field (Accreditations).
- See here and here for examples of About pages in highly YMYL spaces.
- If you’re yet to do some of these things, try and find an opportunity to do them with other people in your niche.
- All these things are good to do on any website About Page in general as well, not just YMYL sites.
Proving authority in these spaces can get a more tricky, since you may know yourself that you are a well credentialed expert in a certain field, but you have to find ways to demonstrate this in a way that Google can actually algorithmically measure.
This is why being able to link to external pages and resources is so important in creating YMYL niche about pages. Try to find ways of doing this that demonstrate authority and credibility in a certain field. This will make it easier to rank articles in these niches if Google has at least some evidence of real world expertise and credentials.
In certain spaces like medical you need to demonstrate more authority on your About Page
Creating an About Us Page For Sites With Multiple Writers
This is another variation that can crop up when you have a site where several people write content, or it is outsourced to multiple writers. How do we go about creating About pages when it is than one person involved.
If it’s a couple then it’s fine – just do the same as before, but give a brief description of you both in the one page.
If it’s several different writers, then give a brief description of the company or site in general, the mission statement of the company if applicable, how long it’s been in existence, and other details.
Then you can list each writer on the site, giving a very brief description of them, with a picture if you like, and then link off to separate About pages for each individual writer.
See here for an example of an about page that does this.
The Importance of About Me Pages for E-A-T
We’ve already mentioned this is passing, but it’s important to emphasize again, simply because Google is really emphasizing the E-A-T criteria and credibility in general these days.
They want to know that content is coming from credible people who actually know what they are talking about before ranking it.
In more leisure and hobby niches, you can be more relaxed about this and just state your interests and experience on your About page. Just tell people about yourself.
In more YMYL spaces though, you need to take the entire issue of authority more seriously, and try and demonstrate to Google real credentials they can measure.
Either way, on any website now, it is important to have an About Me/Us page. It’s just that the structure and tone of it may differ depending on your niche.
See the video below where the Income School guys go into the entire topic of E-A-T in more detail, and specifically cover the creation of About Me pages.
