What is a website footer and what should be in it

A website footer is the bottom block repeated on every page. It holds contacts, main sections, company details, legal documents and social links: everything a visitor looks for at the end of a page.

What is a website footer?

The footer is the bottom part of a page below the main content. It is shared by all pages and defined in the template, so editing it changes the whole site at once. The top part of a page is the header.

Visitors scroll to the end for two reasons: they have finished reading and are ready to act, or they have not found what they need and want navigation. A footer helps in both cases. That is why it needs both ways to get in touch and links to the main sections.

What should a footer include?

The minimum for any website:

• Contacts: phone, email, messengers, an address with a map if you have an office.
• Navigation: links to main sections, 5–15 items grouped by topic.
• Legal information: company name, registration number, privacy policy, terms of use.
• Copyright: © and the year, ideally a range from the founding year.
• Social links: icons with labels for screen readers.

Optional additions:

• a newsletter sign-up form;
• opening hours;
• logos of certificates, memberships and payment systems;
• a sitemap link;
• a language switcher;
• a "Back to top" button on long pages.

What must an online store footer include?

Ukraine's Law on Electronic Commerce requires a seller to disclose its details: the full company name or the entrepreneur's name, address, email or online store address, identification code, and licence details if the activity is licensed. Add a phone number for buyers: it is the usual way to confirm an order. The footer on every page is the most convenient place for them. Links to payment, delivery and return terms, the public offer and the personal data policy go there too. LiqPay, WayForPay, Visa and Mastercard logos show which payment methods are accepted.

What should an online school footer contain?

An online school footer usually carries the public offer agreement, refund rules, privacy policy, support contacts, a link to the student account login and the schedule, if there is one. Parents and students need to find quickly whom to contact when access to lessons fails.

How does the footer affect SEO?

Footer links are sitewide: they appear on every page. Google follows them when crawling the site, yet contextual links inside the text help pages more. Years ago, footers were stuffed with dozens of keyword links such as "website development Kyiv". Today that looks like spam and adds nothing.

For local SEO, the business name, address and phone in the footer should match your Google Business Profile. The same data is repeated in schema.org Organization or LocalBusiness markup.

What footer mistakes are common?

• Small grey text on a dark background that nobody can read.
• Contacts as an image, so the number cannot be tapped on a phone.
• An outdated copyright year that makes the site look abandoned.
• Hundreds of links that bury the important sections.
• A cookie banner covering the footer on mobile.

How should a footer look on mobile?

On narrow screens, navigation links collapse into expandable lists. The phone, messengers and address stay visible and tappable. Tap targets should be at least 44–48 pixels with enough spacing between links.

If your footer is overloaded or outdated, we tidy it up as part of a website redesign. When we build a site from scratch, a well-planned footer is part of website development.

Frequently asked questions

What is the bottom part of a website called?

The footer. The top part is called the header.

What is a page footer?

It is the block below the main content, shared by all pages: contacts, navigation, company details, legal documents and social links.

Do I need a sitemap link in the footer?

Small sites do not. For sites with hundreds of pages, a link to an HTML sitemap helps visitors. For search engines, the XML sitemap in Search Console matters more.

Which year should the copyright show?

The current year or a range from the launch year to the current one. Many sites output the current year automatically.

Do footer links affect rankings?

Only slightly. They help crawling, while dozens of keyword links in a footer look like spam. Contextual links in the text matter more.

Sources

• Law of Ukraine on Electronic Commerce (in Ukrainian)
• Google Search Central: LocalBusiness structured data
• web.dev: accessible colour contrast