Is your website helpful?
February 3, 2026
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
At the time of posting this blog in 2026, Google is placing a huge emphasis on helpful websites that are made for people, not to search engines.
What makes a helpful website?
So what does make a helpful website?
Think about the last time you personally visited the website of a business you were thinking about buying from. You did a bit of window shopping right? Scope the place out.
You might have had some questions and went looking to see if they had the answer. Maybe you had a few answers, such as:
- How much is it?
- Is it in stock?
- How long does it take?
- What happens if there’s a problem with it?
- Where are they located if they’re local?
- Do they sound like they know what they’re talking about?
- Is there comprehensive information but not too much that you get tired reading?
- Can you find your way around the website easily?
- Can you find things quickly on the site?
- Are the contact details clear, are there a number of ways I can reach them?
- What’s their return policy?
- Are there clear pictures of the service being carried out or the product?
- Are there pictures of staff and the location?
- Are there any explainer or introduction videos about their business, products, service?
- Are there any helpful tips about the products or services?
You get the idea. You have to start thinking like your customer and determine what things they’re likely going to want to see, what questions they might ask and what they might find useful for them to make a decision whether to buy from you or not.
Write it down, have a plan
Business owners can get busy. If it’s not on your list of things to do, it can easily get lost aside. You may even find throughout your day you realise “hey this would be really helpful to the customer I should put that on the site” but then forget about it.
If you can’t action it right away, write it down. Have a list to action for when you do get the time. Sometimes your customer might even mention something about the site when they visit you, a suggestion or a question that could be added to the site. That’s when its a good time to note it down for when the time comes to edit your website.
Ask for feedback
Improvement on helpful websites is not a one-and-done kind of thing. That’s why it’s always good to ask your customers for feedback about the site whenever you get a chance. If there are potential improvements that might possibly be made. The only way you’re going to know is if you ask (or they go out of their way to tell you).
Not all suggestions are fit for purpose
Suggestions for how to improve the site to make it a more helpful website for customers is good, but you also have to remember that not every suggestion is going to be right or appropriate. What one person thinks is a good idea might not be for everyone else concerned.
That’s why we recommend that you review and carefully consider if something truly is going to be helpful or not that it deserves the time and space on your website. If you take on every suggestion under the sun, you can run into the problem of there being too much. And yes, too much is a thing.
There’s nothing worse than a website that is crowded with information. It makes it hard to find anything, hard to read, hard for things to stand out and discern whats important. So choose wisely what stays and what goes when it comes to what is helpful or not.
Need help with your website?
If you are looking for someone to help revamp your website and make it more helpful for your customers, drop us a line. We provide excellent web design services for business owners in Perth and yes, we’re local.
