Contact Details Only in the Footer

At the bottom of a long page

Some websites keep the phone number, the address and the hours in one place: the footer. On a computer that means a long scroll. On a phone it can mean a dozen screens.

The design usually made sense on a large monitor, where the footer looked close and tidy. Phones stack every column on top of the next, so everything above the footer grows taller.

A visitor who wants to call has to scroll past the whole page to find out how. Some do. Others go back to the search results, where another business's number is a single tap away.

The fix rarely needs a redesign. It is usually a change to the header and a few lines of text.

Where people look

• The top right of the header on a computer, by long habit.
• The very top of the screen on a phone, before anything else.
• A Contact item in the menu, on either device.
• Beside the main button, where the decision is being made.
• The footer, as the last place checked rather than the first.

The second matters most for local businesses. The visitor on a phone is often minutes from calling or driving over, and the top of the screen is all they see first.

The number belongs in the header

Every page needs the phone number in its header, written as text. On a computer it sits at the top right; on a phone, at the top, or in a slim bar that stays in view.

Make it a link that dials when tapped. On a phone, that single tap is the whole reason for putting it there.

A slim bar is not the kind of pop-up Google said last month it would count against pages on phones from January 10.

Google's examples were pop-ups and full-screen panels that cover the content. A slim bar holding a number and a directions link covers almost none of it, and banners using a reasonable amount of the screen were named among the exceptions.

Address and hours, one tap away

The address and hours do not need to sit in the header, but they need to be close: a line under the header on the home page, and a Contact item in the menu that leads straight to them.

Link the address to a map, so a tap opens directions. Put today's hours next to it, since the question after where is when.

A seasonal business should state its season plainly: the dates it opens and closes, and any days it does not.

A business with two locations gives each its own line, with its own address, hours and number, rather than one number for both.

Contact pages that start with a form

Many contact pages open with a long form and put the number and address beneath it. On a phone that pushes them down the page, which is the footer problem again in another place.

Put the number, the address and the hours first, then the form. People who prefer to type will still find it; people who want to call will not have to hunt.

A worked example

A petting farm on the edge of a suburb opens from spring to the end of October, with goats, rabbits, a duck pond and pony rides.

Its home page was built as one long story: a large photograph, a welcome, a gallery of animals, birthday party packages, school visits and a video. The address, hours and phone number sat in the footer beneath it.

Most visitors arrived on phones, often on the day of their visit and often from the car. On a phone, the footer was many screens below the welcome.

So families phoned to ask the hours, or followed the map to the old gate on the back road, because the note about the new entrance was at the very bottom too.

The fix was a slim bar across the top of each page, holding the phone number and a directions link, a line under the photograph with today's hours and the entrance, and a Contact item in the menu.

The footer kept everything, and the story on the home page stayed. It just no longer stands between a family and the gate.

Keep the footer too

None of this means removing contact details from the footer. People who read to the end of a page look there, and so do people who learned that habit on older sites.

The footer is also where the full address, a second phone line, the email address and the social links fit comfortably. It is the complete version; the header is the quick one.

Search engines read footer text like any other, so a full address written the same way on every page keeps the whole site in agreement with your listing.

Check it on a real phone

On a phone, load the home page and count the swipes it takes to reach the number. Repeat on the contact page and on whichever page brings the most visitors.

Ask someone who has never seen the site to find the hours and the address, and watch where their thumb goes first.

If it takes more than a couple of seconds, the number is in the wrong place, however good the design looks on a monitor.

The counter-case

Some businesses would rather not be phoned: an online shop without a phone line, or a practice that books only online. For them the top of the page holds the booking link instead.

A business that customers never visit has no address to show, and should not invent one.

And a short site whose pages fit on a screen or two has less of a footer problem to begin with.

For everyone else: the number at the top, the address and hours one tap away, and the footer kept as the complete version.

Moving the number up

1. Count the swipes to your phone number.
2. Put the number in the header as text.
3. Make it dial when tapped.
4. Add a Contact item to the menu.
5. Link the address to a map.
6. Show today's hours beside the address.
7. Keep the full details in the footer.

Step two matters most. Everything else helps, but a number at the top of every page answers the most common question before the visitor has to go looking.

Making sure those details are real text in the first place is covered in phone numbers and addresses shown as images.

Frequently asked questions

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.