The 3 Pages on Your Website Nobody Reads and the 1 Page Everyone Does
By Tom GoodenUpdated 6 min read
In this article+
You spent three weeks writing your About page. You agonized over the wording, found the perfect team photo, told your origin story with just the right amount of heart.
Almost nobody reads it.
I know this because I look at analytics for a living. After 20 years of building websites for small businesses, I can tell you with confidence that the pages business owners spend the most time on are almost never the most important pages on a business website, the ones that bring in leads. And the one page that actually does the heavy lifting? Most businesses treat it like an afterthought.
Here's what the data says.
The 3 pages nobody reads
Before I name them, a caveat: "nobody" is relative. These pages get some traffic. But compared to the effort business owners pour into them, the return is almost zero.
1. The about page
This is the page every business owner wants to get right. And I understand why. It feels personal. It is your story.
On the average small business website getting 500 to 1,500 monthly visitors, the About page accounts for 3 to 5 percent of total pageviews. That is 15 to 75 visits per month, depending on traffic. For a page that often takes weeks to finalize, that is a rough return on investment.
Worse, the About page almost never converts. People land there out of mild curiosity, read a paragraph or two, and leave. Conversion rates on About pages sit below 0.5 percent in most industries, according to data from Ruler Analytics.
Don't delete your About page. Just give it an afternoon instead of a month. Keep it short. Include a photo. Say what you do, where you do it, and why you are good at it. Move on.
2. The blog archive page
Not individual blog posts. Those can rank well and drive traffic. I am talking about the blog listing page itself, the one that shows all your posts in reverse chronological order.
Most visitors who land on a blog post arrive from Google or social media. They read that specific post and either contact you or leave. They almost never click over to your blog archive to browse more articles. Google Analytics consistently shows blog archive pages generating under 2 percent of total sessions on small business sites.
If you are putting effort into organizing your blog archive with fancy category filters and custom layouts, stop. That time is better spent writing another post that ranks.
3. The testimonials page
A standalone testimonials page is a dead end. People do not seek out a dedicated page of reviews. They check Google reviews (which live on Google, not your site) or they look for social proof on the page they are already reading.
Testimonials work when they appear in context. A review from a roofing customer sitting next to your roofing service description is persuasive. That same review buried on a testimonials page that gets 8 visits a month is invisible.
The fix is simple: pull your best testimonials out of their dedicated page and place them on your service pages, your homepage, and near your contact forms. Put social proof where people already are. Nobody wanders into a separate room to go looking for it.
The 1 page everyone actually reads
Your services page. Or more accurately, your individual service pages.
This is where the data gets interesting. On a well-structured small business website, individual service pages account for 35 to 55 percent of all organic traffic. That number comes from patterns I have seen across hundreds of sites over two decades, and it holds remarkably consistent across industries.
Why? Because service pages match what people actually search for.
Nobody Googles "about [business name]." They Google "roof repair in Grand Rapids" or "plumber near me" or "family dentist Waco TX." Those searches land on service pages or location pages, not your About page.
And service pages convert. According to Ruler Analytics, the average form conversion rate across industries is 1.7 percent. But targeted service pages with clear calls to action regularly hit 3 to 5 percent. That is double or triple the baseline, and it happens because the visitor arrived with intent. They searched for a specific service. They found your page. Now they just need a reason to pick up the phone.
What makes a service page actually work
Most service pages I audit are terrible. They read like a brochure from 2004. "We offer quality services at competitive prices." That sentence describes every business on earth and differentiates you from none of them.
Here is what a service page needs to do:
Answer the search query in the first two sentences. If someone searched "emergency plumbing repair Kalamazoo," your page should confirm within seconds that yes, you do emergency plumbing repair and yes, you serve Kalamazoo. Not buried in paragraph four. Right at the top.
Include a phone number above the fold. When someone needs a service right now, they do not want to hunt for your contact info. Phone number in the header, clickable on mobile. Every page, not just the contact page.
Show pricing or at least a range. I know, I know. "It depends." Sure it does. But "kitchen remodels starting at $15,000" is infinitely more useful than "contact us for a quote." People who know your price range and still call are better leads than people calling blind.
Use specific numbers instead of vague claims. "We have completed over 340 roof replacements in Kent County since 2018" beats "We have years of experience" every time. Specifics build trust. Vague claims build skepticism.
Include a clear call to action. Not a tiny "contact us" link. A real button that says something specific like "Get a Free Roof Inspection" or "Schedule Your Consultation." HubSpot found that personalized calls to action convert 202 percent better than generic ones.
The real problem with most small business websites
The root issue is not that business owners are spending too much time on their About pages. It is that they are spending too little time on the pages that actually drive revenue.
I see this pattern constantly. A contractor builds a website with five pages: Home, About, Services, Gallery, Contact. The Services page is a single page listing everything they do in bullet points. No individual pages for each service. No targeting specific cities or neighborhoods. No keywords. No calls to action beyond a generic form on the Contact page.
That structure worked in 2010. It does not work now.
Google needs individual, keyword-targeted pages to rank you for specific searches. A single "Services" page listing 12 different services will rank for none of them. But 12 individual service pages, each targeting a specific keyword and geographic area? Those pages compete.
What to do this week
Open your analytics. If you use Google Analytics 4, go to Reports, then Engagement, then Pages and Screens. Sort by views.
Look at where your traffic actually goes. I would bet money your homepage and one or two service-related pages get 70 percent or more of your traffic. Your About page, blog archive, and testimonials page are probably in the bottom quarter.
Now ask yourself: where did you spend most of your time and money when building the site?
If those two answers do not match, you know what needs to change.
The fix does not require a redesign. It requires a reprioritization:
- Create individual pages for each major service you offer
- Include your city and service area on each page
- Add a phone number and CTA button to every page
- Pull testimonials out of their dedicated page and place them on service pages
- Spend 20 minutes on your About page and move on
Your About page tells people who you are. Your service pages tell people what you can do for them. Guess which one they care about more.
Ready to find out which pages are actually working?
If your website has been underperforming and you are not sure why, the answer is probably hiding in your analytics. We help small businesses restructure their sites around the pages that actually generate leads, not the pages that feel important.
Get in touch and we will show you exactly where your traffic goes and what to do about it.
Frequently asked questions
- What are the most important pages on a business website?
- Individual service pages are the most important pages on a small business website. On a well-structured site, they account for 35 to 55 percent of all organic traffic because they match what people actually search for, like "roof repair in Grand Rapids" or "plumber near me." They also convert well, with targeted service pages regularly hitting 3 to 5 percent.
- Do people actually read the About page on a business website?
- Very few do. On a small business website with 500 to 1,500 monthly visitors, the About page usually gets 3 to 5 percent of pageviews, and About pages convert below 0.5 percent in most industries, according to Ruler Analytics. Keep yours, but give it an afternoon instead of a month: short, with a photo, saying what you do, where, and why you're good at it.
- Should each service have its own page on my website?
- Yes. Google needs individual, keyword-targeted pages to rank you for specific searches. A single Services page listing 12 different services will rank for none of them, while 12 individual service pages, each targeting a specific keyword and geographic area, can compete. Include your city and service area, a phone number, and a call-to-action button on each one.
- What should a good service page include?
- A good service page answers the search query in the first two sentences, shows a clickable phone number above the fold, and gives pricing or at least a range. It also uses specific numbers instead of vague claims and has a clear, specific call to action like "Get a Free Roof Inspection." HubSpot found that personalized calls to action convert 202 percent better than generic ones.
- Is a separate testimonials page worth having?
- Usually not. A standalone testimonials page is a dead end, because people don't go looking for a dedicated page of reviews. Testimonials work in context, so move your best ones onto your service pages, your homepage, and near your contact forms. A roofing customer's review next to your roofing service description is persuasive. The same review on a page with 8 visits a month is invisible.