How To Tell If Your Website Is A Narcissist
Your website might be narcissistic, and you probably don’t even know it.
It’s not something you’d notice at a glance, but your customers will. A website is supposed to be customer-centric, not company-centric.
Take a look at your homepage. If it reads more like “Our history. Our mission. Our team. Our products.” than it does about what you do for the customer, that’s company-centered copy. The person reading it, the one deciding whether to trust you, buy from you, or bounce, barely gets a mention.
That’s a narcissistic website.
It can be the difference between a visitor converting into a customer and one who goes to the competition.
3 Tests To Find Out If Your Website Is A Narcissist
| Way | Time | Accuracy |
|---|---|---|
| Basic test (Find & Replace) | 5 minutes | Good |
| Free tool (paste your URL) | Seconds | Good |
| Deeper dive (print & mark up) | 15–20 minutes | Best |
| Professional audit | A few days | Most thorough |
All four work the same way. Each one compares how often your copy talks about the customer against how often it talks about your company, and returns a ratio. The difference is how the count gets done and how deep the review goes.
What The Ratios Mean
- Under 1:1 (more “you” than “we”): Customer-focused. Nice work.
- 1:1 to 2:1: Borderline. Worth a closer look.
- 3:1 or higher: Full narcissist. Time for a rewrite.
This isn’t a precise science. Some “we” language is necessary and even useful. But the ratio makes a real pattern visible instead of just a vague feeling that something’s off about the copy.
The Pages That Need This Test Most, And Why
Homepage — Usually the first page a visitor sees, so if it reads like a brochure instead of answering “can this business help me,” you lose them early.
Service pages — This is where someone decides whether to hire you. List credentials without connecting them to their problem, and they’ll move on to someone who does.
About page — Ironic given the topic, but even About pages benefit from tying company history to what it means for the customer, rather than being a pure biography.
Product/category pages — Especially for ecommerce, these often lean hard into spec sheets and brand claims instead of answering “why does this matter to me.”
Landing pages (for ads or campaigns) — These have the most on the line since they’re the first and sometimes only page a cold visitor sees, so a narcissistic one burns paid traffic.
Contact/quote request pages — Easy to overlook, but this is often the last page before conversion, and it’s frequently just a form with zero customer-facing copy around it.
Pricing page (if you have one) — A classic spot for “our packages include…” instead of “here’s what solves your problem.”
Or Skip The Math
If you’d rather not sit there with Find & Replace open, I built a free tool that does the count for you. Paste in your homepage URL, list your company name, and get your ratio back in seconds: [LINK].
It’s the same test, just faster. I’d still run the manual version at least once. Reading through every “we” sentence yourself is where the real insight comes from, not just the number.
The Basic Test
Here’s a five minute audit you can run on any page right now.
- Copy your homepage (or landing page) text into a doc.
- Use Find & Replace (Ctrl/Cmd+F) to count how many times each word shows up. Most tools give you a result count without making you tally by hand.
“Me” Words:
- We
- Our
- Us
- Your company name and any other versions of it
- “We offer…”
- “Our mission…”
“You” Words:
- You
- Your
- You’ll
- Your business / your family / your needs / your goals
- Write down both totals.
- Divide “me” words by “you” words. That’s your ratio.
The Deeper Dive: Print It Out
If you want to go further than a word count, try this version instead.
Print out the entire page, the whole thing, not just the top section. Grab a pen and physically mark it up. Circle every “we,” “our,” and brand mention. Underline every “you” and “your.” Cross out anything that sounds like it belongs in an About page, not a homepage.
It takes longer than Find & Replace, but it makes the audit personal in a way that a word count can’t. You’re not just tallying words. You’re sitting with every sentence, feeling where the page turns inward instead of talking to the reader. Patterns show up on paper that you’d scroll right past on a screen: whole paragraphs that circle back to the company, sentences that never once mention “you.” That kind of close reading is where the real rewrite ideas come from.
What A Narcissistic Page Sounds Like
I see openers like this all the time:
“We have been serving customers for over 25 years. Our company was founded in 1998 by our visionary leadership team. We offer high-quality products and these services, backed by our award-winning customer service and industry-leading standards. Our team is committed to excellence, and our commitment to our mission drives everything we do.”
It’s basically saying, without saying it:
Look at us. Look at us. Look at us.
Now compare it to this, from the same hypothetical company:
“For over 25 years, our specially trained technicians have worked on OEM products from ABC Enterprise and Industrial Connects. When your machines go down, we know how to get you back up fast. Representatives are available 24/7 to keep your downtime as short as possible.”
Same business, completely different conversation. The first is a company talking to itself about itself. The other is a company talking to a customer about what they get.
“We” Isn’t The Enemy
Here’s the part that’s easy to miss. The goal isn’t to delete every “we” from your website. It’s to make sure every “we” is in service of a “you.”
Compare these pairs:
Service Business, Company-Focused:
“We have over 15 years of experience in the industry.”
Service Business, Customer-Focused:
“Need it done right the first time? Our 15 years of experience means fewer surprises and less rework for you.”
Ecommerce, Company-Focused:
“We offer fast, free shipping on all orders.”
Ecommerce, Customer-Focused:
“Need it fast? Get free shipping with no minimum, so you’re not stuck waiting or paying extra to get what you ordered.”
Same underlying facts. But the customer-focused versions tell the reader why it matters to them: less hassle, more speed, more confidence, instead of just stating a fact about the company and moving on.
That’s the real fix. Not fewer “we” statements, but “we” statements that answer the customer’s actual question, which is usually some version of what’s in it for me, and what do I do next.
What The Tool Can’t See
Every test in this article, including the free tool, only looks at text. That’s a real limitation.
Some companies push the “look at us” pattern into their imagery instead of their copy. Logos for every internal service line. Branded badges stacked down the page. Hero images built around the company’s facility or fleet instead of the customer’s problem. None of that shows up in a word count, but it sends the same message: this page is about us.
If your word ratio comes back clean but the page still feels like a highlight reel of your own brand, look at the visuals next. Ask the same question you asked about the copy: does this image help the customer, or is it just another way of saying look at us.
The Bonus Step
Once you’ve got your ratio, go back through every sentence that starts with “we,” “our,” or your brand name and ask:
Does this connect to something the customer gets?
If yes, leave it. If no, cut it or rewrite it so it does. That single pass, sentence by sentence, will do more for your copy than any ratio ever will. The number just gets you to actually look.
Want A Second Set Of Eyes?
If you’d rather not run the audit yourself, I offer a full copy audit and messaging strategy for your website, turning company-centric language into words that speak to your customer. [Get in touch] to get started. ☕
The Takeaway
Your homepage isn’t your company’s autobiography. It’s a conversation with someone trying to decide if you can help them.
The next time you write or audit a page, don’t just ask if it sounds good. Ask who the main character of the sentence is, you or the customer.
If the answer is you too often, you already know what to do. ☕