The short answer
Your About page should answer four questions in the first few lines:
- Who runs this store?
- What do you sell, and who is it for?
- Why should someone trust you with their money?
- How can they reach you if something goes wrong?
Everything else, like your origin story, photos and values, supports those answers. If you're still setting up your shop, start with our guide to starting an online store with no experience, then come back here.
Why a new store needs an About page
When someone lands on a store they've never heard of, they're deciding whether it's real. Nielsen Norman Group's research on About Us information on websites found that users expect About sections to be clear, authentic and transparent, and that they compare what a company says about itself with third-party reviews before doing business with it.
Search engines look for the same signals. In its guide to creating helpful, reliable, people-first content, Google suggests asking "Who, How, and Why" about your content. It asks whether it's self-evident to visitors who created it, and whether there's background about the site, for example through a link to a site's About page. Google says that among experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T), trust is the most important.
AI answer tools work from what they can find and verify, too. A clear About page gives them plain facts about your business to quote. Our guide to AEO and GEO explains more.
What to include
1. A one-sentence summary up top. Say what you sell and who it's for. For example: "We make small-batch soy candles for people who want a clean-burning candle that smells like the outdoors."
2. The real person or people behind the store. Your first name, your role, and a real photo go a long way. If you work alone, say so. A solo founder is a perfectly good reason to trust a store, because buyers know exactly who they're dealing with.
3. Why you started. Two or three sentences are enough. Focus on the problem you saw or the craft you love, not a dramatic life story.
4. How you make or choose your products. Do you handmake them, design them and use a print partner, or curate from suppliers? Say it plainly. Shoppers forgive "we source from trusted makers"; they don't forgive finding out you hid it.
5. Where you're based and where you ship. A city and state are enough. Then link your shipping details and return policy.
6. Contact information. An email address, a contact form or a phone number, plus your social profiles. Google Merchant Center's guidelines require merchants to make contact information clearly available on their website, so this matters if you want to appear in Google's free product listings.
7. Proof you can actually point to. Real press mentions, a market you sell at, or genuine customer reviews with permission. If you don't have any yet, leave this out. That's fine for a new store.
What to leave out
- Invented numbers. "Trusted by thousands" on day one is a red flag to shoppers and can be a legal problem.
- Fake or paid-for reviews. The FTC's rule on consumer reviews and testimonials prohibits, among other things, selling or buying fake reviews or testimonials, and insiders writing reviews without clearly disclosing their relationship to the business.
- Stock photos posing as your team. If you use stock imagery, don't present it as you.
- Corporate filler. Lines like "we're passionate about excellence" say nothing. Replace them with a specific detail only you can give.
A simple template you can copy
[Store name] makes [product] for [who it's for].
Hi, I'm [first name]. I started [store name] in [year] after [one-sentence reason]. I [make / design / pick] every [product] myself in [city, state].
How we do it: [two sentences about materials, process or suppliers].
Our promise: [what happens if something goes wrong, linking your return policy].
Get in touch: [email] · [Instagram] · [contact form]. I usually reply within [time you can honestly keep].
Pair it with a clear photo of you or your workspace. Our guide to product photos with your phone works just as well for a portrait.
Help Google understand your business
Add Organization structured data to your home page. Google's Organization structured data guide says it can help Google understand your organization's administrative details and disambiguate it in search results. Google says there are no required properties and recommends adding as many relevant ones as you can, such as your name, logo, URL, contact details and social profiles. Keep these details identical to what your About page says.
A matching domain name and consistent business name across your site and social profiles helps too.
Where to put it
- Main navigation or footer, labeled "About" or "Our story". People look for those words.
- A short version on your home page, with a link to the full page.
- A line on product pages for handmade or small-batch goods, like "Made by [name] in [city]".
Build a store people trust
Newcomer builds your store with AI, including an About page draft, policy pages and product pages, so you can fill in the true details and start selling. Start your free trial, then read how to get your first 100 customers.
Questions, answered.
What should an About page for an online store include?
Who runs the store, what you sell and who it's for, why you started, how products are made or sourced, where you're based and ship, and clear contact details, plus links to your shipping and return policies.
Does an About page help SEO?
Indirectly, yes. Google's guidance on helpful content asks whether it's clear who is behind a site and suggests background such as a link to an About page. It says trust is the most important part of E-E-A-T. An About page isn't a ranking factor on its own, but it supports trust signals.
Should I put my photo on my store's About page?
If you're comfortable with it, yes. A real photo of you or your workspace helps shoppers see there's a real person behind a new store. Never present stock photos as your team.
Can I add reviews to my About page before I have customers?
Only real ones. The FTC's rule on consumer reviews and testimonials prohibits fake reviews and testimonials and undisclosed insider reviews. It's fine for a new store to have no reviews yet.
How long should an About page be?
Long enough to answer who, what, why and how to contact you. For most small stores that's a few short paragraphs, with the key summary in the first sentence.
Sources
- "About Us" Information on Websites (Nielsen Norman Group)
- Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content (Google Search Central)
- Organization structured data (Google Search Central)
- Follow Merchant Center guidelines to keep your account approved (Google Merchant Center Help)
- Trade Regulation Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials (Federal Register, FTC)