How to write a dating profile over 50, with examples

A good profile over 50 says who you are now, what a good week looks like and what you hope for, in a few warm, specific sentences, with a recent photo of your face. Writing about yourself is awkward at any age, though by 50 you at least have plenty of material and no obligation to pretend you enjoy nightclubs. On SilverSingles the written part of the sign-up is just two boxes. Both prompts are quoted below word for word, followed by five complete example profiles you can borrow from.

What SilverSingles actually asks for

The website sign-up takes five screens, and your written profile sits on the fourth. We walked through all five on 17 September 2026. Screens 1 and 2 are drop-downs and tick boxes: who you are, who you want to meet, an age slider, your own age, ethnicity and height, and whether you would relocate or travel to meet someone. If you have heard that SilverSingles starts with a long personality test, that belonged to the old service before May 2026; there was no test anywhere in the five screens we completed.

Screen 3 sets up the account itself: a username, an email address and a password. Underneath the username box the site prints a warning: “Visible to others. Use a nickname.” Take it literally. Leave out your surname, your town and the year you were born; a dog’s breed, a hill you walk or what you grow on the allotment makes a much better handle.

Screen 4 is where you write. Two free-text boxes open up, About Me and About My Match, each allowing up to 4,000 characters. The grey placeholder text inside each box is redrawn below.

Screen 5 asks for your photos, headed “Add photos to make more connections and present your authentic self.” On the web sign-up we saw no skip button on that screen. Immediately after, at your first log-in, the site opens a Verify Your Account gate and asks for “a clear photo of your face”. Until that picture is uploaded, every member page bounces you back to the log-in screen, so keep a clear, recent head-and-shoulders photo on your device before you start. You can see all five screens in order on how SilverSingles works.

Once inside the member site, Edit My Profile shows a Profile Complete percentage and adds one more line worth filling in: a box called Profile Headline, marked Important, with the prompt “A clever headline attracts more attention!” Lifting one concrete phrase from your About Me (“Choir on Tuesdays, coast path on Sundays”) beats trying to be witty. Building the profile, uploading photos and browsing are all free; private messaging is what requires Silver Select, as set out on free versus Silver Select.

What to write in About Me

The placeholder inside the first box reads “Describe what makes you a great partner”. If you answer that question directly, you will end up writing a reference for yourself: kind, loyal, honest, young at heart, good sense of humour. Every second profile on the internet says those exact five things, so a reader’s eyes slide straight over them. Instead of claiming the virtues, describe a Tuesday and a Sunday and let the reader draw the conclusion.

Three short moves cover the whole box:

1. Open with one plain line on where life stands now. Skip the thirty-year CV. "Retired, widowed, living by the sea and busier than I expected."
2. Put in two or three concrete habits from your week. "Tuesday is choir, Thursday is the allotment, and on Sundays I walk a stretch of the coast path with a flask."
3. Finish on a small human detail that is easy to reply to. "I make a very good apple crumble and a very bad cup of coffee."

Age UK gives the same steer on its dating in later life page, updated 25 August 2026: “You might like to include a little about your hobbies and interests and what kind of relationship you're looking for.”

Stop at 100 to 200 words. The box will swallow 4,000 characters if you let it, which is a full side of A4, and nobody browsing over a cup of tea wants to read an essay before saying hello.

See what happens when you swap a generic claim for a specific habit:

1. Instead of "I enjoy walking", write "Most Sundays I walk the coast path and stop at every bench with a view."
2. Instead of "I love travel", write "I have been to the Hebrides twice in the rain and would go back tomorrow."
3. Instead of "I like good food", write "I do a proper Sunday roast and I am still losing the battle with Yorkshire puddings."
4. Instead of "I have a good sense of humour", write "I am the one who starts the singing on the coach trip."

Every second line above hands a stranger an obvious first message (“Which island?” or “Cold oil or hot tin for the Yorkshires?”). When people complain that nobody writes anything better than “Hi”, it is usually because their profile gave the other person nothing to hold on to. For what to write when you are the one sending the opener, see conversation starters when dating over 50.

Draft your paragraphs in a notebook or an email first and read them out loud. If a sentence sounds like a performance appraisal, cross it out. And if you sound warmer out loud than you do in print, remember that a free SilverSingles account lets you record a voice introduction alongside your photos.

What to write in About My Match

The second box asks “What kind of person and relationship are you hoping to find here?” Two or three sentences will answer both halves of that question.

Leave the mechanics to the site’s filters. You already set gender and age range on screen 1, and whether you are willing to travel on screen 2. Inside Edit My Profile there is also a tick box headed “Willing To Meet In Person Next 7 Days?” Because the forms handle age, geography and pace, your written paragraph can stick to temperament and how you actually want to spend time together.

Describe the person in motion rather than listing abstract adjectives. “Someone who will sit through a community choir concert and still want fish and chips on the way home” paints a clearer picture than “must like music”.

Then say plainly what shape of relationship you are hoping for. Some people over 50 want a companion for theatre trips, Sunday lunches and a holiday once a year while keeping their own houses. Others want to share a roof again. Either is completely normal, and saying which one you mean saves two months of polite misunderstanding.

Above all, keep the list of grievances out of it. Profiles that bark “No time-wasters, no liars, no couch potatoes” never frighten off a liar; they only make decent people cross the street. Flip every negative into what you actually want:

1. "No time-wasters" turns into "I'd rather meet for a quick coffee after a few messages than spend weeks typing."
2. "No drama" turns into "Looking for something calm, kind and straightforward."
3. "No baggage" goes in the bin. Nobody reaches 55 without a history.

Examples of a good dating profile over 50

Each example below pairs an About Me with an About My Match in under 150 words. Steal the rhythm and swap in your own Tuesdays and Sundays; copying a specimen word for word defeats the object, and you will not be the only reader who has seen this page.

Example 1: a divorced woman of 54 who still works

About Me: Divorced some years ago, two grown-up children, and still working in a hospital pharmacy, which I enjoy more than I let on. Weekends belong to the allotment, where the courgettes always win, and to a swim in the sea when it’s warm enough. I read crime novels in the bath and do the crossword badly.

About My Match: A kind, curious man with a life of his own, who fancies a walk, a pub lunch and seeing where it goes.

Example 2: a widowed woman of 66

About Me: I was married to a lovely man for a long time, and I lost him a few years ago. I’m ready for some company again. I sing alto in a community choir, walk a neighbour’s spaniel most mornings and bake a decent Victoria sponge for anyone who’ll sit still. I like a proper conversation and an old film on a wet Sunday.

About My Match: A gentle, good-humoured man who enjoys being out and about. Friendship first, and we’ll see.

Example 3: a man of 58 who walks and cooks

About Me: Engineer, still working, divorced and on good terms, with a grown-up daughter who thinks I should do this. I’m happiest on a long walk that ends at a pub with a fire, and I cook most evenings. I’m working through a curry book I was given a few Christmases ago. I can fix a dripping tap. I cannot dance.

About My Match: A woman who’d happily get muddy on a walk and then let me cook for her. Something real, rather than a pen pal.

Example 4: a widower of 69 with grandchildren

About Me: My wife died a few years ago after a long, happy marriage. Since then I’ve learnt to cook and to enjoy my own company, and now I’d like someone to share things with. I play bowls, help at the church hall on Tuesdays and do the school run twice a week for my grandchildren. I like brass bands and a Sunday roast someone else has cooked.

About My Match: A warm, sociable lady who likes days out. Companionship first, and more if it feels right.

Example 5: a woman of 61 in a new town

About Me: Last spring I sold up and moved to a market town to be nearer my sister, and I’m still learning where everything is. I’ve joined a book group and a Pilates class, and I’m slowly walking every footpath on the map. I taught for years and still correct the spelling on menus, silently.

About My Match: Someone local who knows the good walks and the best tearoom, and would like to show me both. Weekends together would be lovely, but I’m keeping my own front door.

Once you have two short paragraphs you like, open the free sign-up and drop them straight into screen 4.

Photos

Your main photo needs to be a clear, recent picture of your face. On SilverSingles you cannot avoid taking one anyway, because the first log-in gate demands it. Adding two or three more after the main shot helps people picture you in real life.

1. Lead with your face in daylight. It should look like you this autumn, not you at a wedding in 2016. Stand near a window or outdoors, look straight at the lens, take off the sunglasses and the hat, and make sure nobody else's shoulder is cropped out at the edge.
2. Add one picture of you occupied. Walking boots on a stile, holding a trowel, sitting at a café table. It proves you leave the house and gives a match something to ask about.
3. Include one full-length or three-quarter shot. A photo of you standing or walking tells the truth and saves any nerves before a first coffee.
4. Skip group photos at the top. Nothing cools interest faster than playing "which one is he" across four men in golf jumpers. If you include a group shot further down, make sure you are unmistakable.

Ask a friend or one of your children to take ten snaps on a bright, overcast afternoon with the phone at eye level, and keep the two where your shoulders drop and you look like yourself. Always use photos taken specifically for the dating site rather than pictures that already sit on your public Facebook page or an employer’s website. As our safety page explains, anyone can drop a public Facebook picture into Google Images and trace it back to your surname in ten seconds. Check the background too: no front-door numbers, no car registrations, no grandchildren.

If you are wondering why you still come across empty cards while browsing, why a SilverSingles profile has no photo explains how those happen and how to pass them with one click.

What to leave out

Remember the line in the site’s footer: SilverSingles states it does not conduct background checks on members. Until you have met someone for coffee and seen how they behave, your profile is a poster pinned up in a public square.

1. Keep your surname, street, employer and regular haunts out of the text. Do not mention the exact village or the name of the school where you collect your grandchildren. Age UK warns readers to "Be cautious of sharing personal information", naming your address as the obvious example. Because Edit My Profile has dedicated fields for your country and town, your written bio never needs them.
2. Never mention money, property or pensions. Words like "mortgage-free", "comfortable pension" or "own my home outright" attract the wrong sort of attention immediately. How to spot someone fishing for financial details is covered on red flags when dating in your 50s and 60s.
3. Leave out the post-mortem on your ex. Even when every word of it is justified, bitterness in a profile makes a stranger wonder whether there is room at the table for them.
4. Save medical history for when it matters. If a bad knee rules out a five-mile hill walk, say you prefer a flat promenade and a tearoom; the clinical history can wait.

Mentioning a divorce, a late partner or grandchildren

Give the past one calm sentence, then bring the paragraph straight back to this year. A good reader wants to know where you stand, not to read the transcript.

1. For a divorce: "Divorced for four years now, and life is settled." Leave the causes and the settlement out of it; more on that balance is on dating after divorce at 50.
2. For bereavement: "Widowed after a long, happy marriage, and ready for company again." Then move straight on to how you spend your week.
3. For grandchildren: "Two grandchildren who keep me busy on Saturdays" says everything warm that needs saying without giving away their names, ages or photos.

If your husband, wife or partner died, acknowledging them in a line is neither morbid nor off-putting. As Cruse Bereavement Support puts it, “it's healthy to continue to remember with fondness the person who has died.” Anyone worth having coffee with at 60 knows that a long marriage leaves a mark. If you are still weighing up whether you want to take this step at all, start with widowed and dating again in the UK.

Questions people ask