Open the About page of ten local businesses and you will often read the same paragraph ten times, with small changes. Passion for quality. Commitment to customers. A family business with values. Then a photo of two hands shaking, taken by a stranger for a stock photo library.
The paragraph may well be true, yet a reader cannot check any line of it, so it tells them nothing they can use. A person deciding whether to let a stranger into their home, or to hand a lawyer a family problem, wants facts they can verify. The About page is the one page on the site that exists for exactly this purpose.
In this post we look at what Google says about showing who is behind a website, and then at the five things an About page should carry: names, faces, licences, history and service area. We finish with the small block of code that describes your business to Google in its own format.
What does Google ask about who is behind a page?
Google publishes a page called "Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content". It suggests that owners evaluate their pages with three questions, which it calls "Who, How, and Why". About the first, it says: "Something that helps people intuitively understand the E-E-A-T of content is when it's clear who created it."
E-E-A-T is Google's short name for experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness, the qualities its systems try to recognise in a page. On this list Google is direct: "Of these aspects, trust is most important."
The same page has a question that speaks to the About page by name: "Does the content present information in a way that makes you want to trust it, such as clear sourcing, evidence of the expertise involved, background about the author or the site that publishes it, such as through links to an author page or a site's About page?"
So the About page is where the "who" is answered for the whole business. Every service page and every article on your site leans on it.
Why should real names and faces be on the page?
Because a customer is going to meet a person. The plumber who comes to the house, the bookkeeper who reads the accounts, the stylist who holds the scissors. Tell the reader who these people are.
Write the owner's full name. Add the names of the people a customer is likely to meet, with a sentence or two about each: what they do, how long they have done it, what they are certified for. Then add a photo of each one, taken in a normal working moment.
Google gives the same advice for Business Profiles. Its tips for business photos recommend team photos and say: "Show yourself and any staff to highlight your personalities and give potential clients a feel for what you're like." A stock photo of smiling strangers does the opposite, because the reader knows those are not the people who will come.
If a staff member prefers not to appear, respect that. The owner alone, with a real photo, is already a good start.
How do you show a licence a reader can check?
Many trades and professions need a licence. Electricians, gas fitters, lawyers, accountants, many health practitioners. Writing "fully licensed and insured" is common, and it gives the reader nothing to verify.
Write the licence number instead, and next to it place a link to the regulator's public registry. Let us take one example from British Columbia. Technical Safety BC, which licenses gas and electrical contractors among others, runs a public "Find a Licensed Contractor" registry. Its guide explains that "The registry will display the scope of work that the contractor is authorized to perform and any enforcement action(s) we have taken since 2022." It also says: "Only active licences are shown in the public registry."
That last sentence matters for you. A customer who looks you up and finds you in the registry has confirmed the claim on your page with an independent source. That is worth more than any adjective. And the guide warns customers directly: "If you cannot find your contractor, they may not have an active licence and are not authorized to perform regulated work."
The same applies to association memberships and awards. If you name one, link to the association's member directory or to the awarding body's list of winners for that year. If you cannot link to it, think twice before writing it.
What history belongs on an About page?
History helps the reader judge how long you have done the work and how the business has grown. Keep it factual. The year the business started. The first service you offered. When you added a second van, a new service or a new town. If the business changed owners, say so, and say when.
Google's guidelines for Business Profiles describe the business description as a place for "useful information on services and products offered, as well as the mission and history of your business", and they add: "You should be upfront and honest about the information provided." That is good advice for your website too.
One detail helps later: write the founding year the same way everywhere. It will appear in your text, perhaps on your Business Profile, and in the code block we describe below. The three should agree.
Why does the service area belong on the About page?
A visitor wants to know, early, whether you work where they live. Name the towns or neighbourhoods you serve, in plain words. If you have a shop or office that customers visit, give the address. If you work at customers' homes and do not receive visitors, say so, and describe the area instead.
Google's guidelines ask owners to "Make sure your address and/or service area is accurate and precise." Write the service area on your About page with the same names you used on your Business Profile. Consistency across your own pages and profiles makes the business easier to recognise, for people and for search engines alike.
How do you describe your business to Google in code?
Here comes one technical part, and we will keep it short. Google can read a small block of code, placed inside a page, that lists facts about your business in a fixed format. Google calls this Organization structured data. According to Google's documentation, adding it "can help Google better understand your organization's administrative details and disambiguate your organization in search results", which means telling your business apart from others with a similar name.
Google recommends "placing this information on your home page, or a single page that describes your organization, for example the about us page." It also says: "There are no required properties; instead, add the properties that apply to your content."
The properties a small business usually needs are simple: the name, the website address, the logo, the address, the telephone number, the email, and the founding date. There is also one called sameAs, which Google describes as "The URL of a page on another website with additional information about your organization", for example your profile on a social media or review site. List only profiles your business controls.
If your business serves a local area, Google suggests using the more specific LocalBusiness type, which we explain field by field in our LocalBusiness template guide. Whoever manages your website can add either one.
What makes an About page weaker?
Every claim a reader cannot check. Words such as "best", "leading" or "number one" with no source. Awards with no year and no awarding body. Photos from a stock library standing in for your team. A founding year that differs from the one on your Business Profile.
Google's helpful content page asks: "Does the content have any easily-verified factual errors?" An About page is easy to check, which is why it must be right. Read it once a year, line by line, and remove whatever is no longer true: the employee who left, the service you stopped, the town you no longer cover.
In what order should you rewrite your About page?
If you want to start today, this order works well.
- Write the owner's full name and a real photo, with two sentences on what the owner does in the business.
- Add each person a customer will meet, with name, role, photo and relevant certification.
- Add every licence or registration number, each with a link to the public registry.
- Write the history in four or five dated facts.
- Name the service area exactly as it appears on your Google Business Profile.
- Ask your web person to add Organization or LocalBusiness structured data with the same facts.
People also ask AI assistants such as ChatGPT about local businesses. If you are curious what they say about you today, our guide on finding out what AI says about your business shows how to check.
How can Licheo help?
Licheo does the website, search and AI work that big companies pay whole teams for, for small businesses. If you would like a first look at your site, the free Get Found Check reads your homepage, your domain's public settings and your security certificate, and returns a grade in under 60 seconds.
Sources
- Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content, Google Search Central, accessed 29 September 2026.
- Organization (Organization) structured data, Google Search Central, accessed 29 September 2026.
- Guidelines for representing your business on Google, Google Business Profile Help, Google, accessed 29 September 2026.
- Tips for business-specific photos on your Business Profile, Google Business Profile Help, Google, accessed 29 September 2026.
- Find a Licensed Contractor Guide, Technical Safety BC, accessed 29 September 2026.