Five Minutes Per Year on This Website Task Will Improve Your Reputation and SEO
By my estimate based on what I’ve seen out in the wild, around 30% of small business and nonprofit websites have a footer that’s outdated with either:
No year attached to their copyright (©) reference, or
A year listed that’s at least one year off the current calendar.
I’m talking about organizations that are still around and kicking here.
Why is this bad?
The copyright is at the very bottom of the website, and it’s often in small-print text so as not to compete with menu calls to action that are also in the footer. Since very few visitors’ eyes make it to the bottom of the page — as heatmaps historically show — what’s the big deal?
Well….
Sales and business development folks who check your site, as well as other stakeholders with whom you might want to do business, could conclude that you’re no longer in business.
An outdated copyright year could also get you dinged by one or more search engines.
Copyright 2017 for the website of a business that’s still going in 2023?
Mobile version, visited on May 19, 2023
Here’s the good news
If your site looks like the above example, or if it’s missing a year or years range entirely, you can fix this permanently in two quick steps:
Set a reminder on your calendar — yes, right now! — for next January 1, or late on December 31 if you wish. Title it “Update copyright year in website footer.” And set it to recur yearly.
When your reminder comes around, depending on your website management staffing/workflow, either update it yourself in your website management platform, ask your webmaster or CMO/Marketing Director to do it, or ask your outsourced webmaster to do it.
How I can help when it comes to your website
I undertake occasional website design and SEO projects, and I also have a great list of providers I can refer you to if needed. For more information, book a free call with me.
