Loading ...A site’s home page is under a lot of pressure. It acts as the gateway to the entire site, but cannot sit there passively and let users choose where to go. The home page has to introduce the business, push the most important streams to the forefront, show different groups of users the information they are looking for and set up multiple paths throughout the site.
That’s a lot to ask of a few square inches.
Lots and lots of site owners try to make their home pages do too much. How many times have you come across a home page that is the virtual equivalent of a packed warehouse, with so much information presented that none of it is really understandable? There are millions of home pages out there that are overfilled, and they do absolutely no good for the sites they front.
No matter what sort of industry you are in, it’s a good exercise to picture your home page as your shop window. There is only so much room in the window and, even though there is probably enough to feature 20 or 30 different products or services, filling up the space in this way would be confusing. A good shop window features a few select products, tastefully arranged to tempt passersby. This is what you should aim for when you review your page during search engine optimisation.
Home page layout
Most home pages are designed so that users don’t have to scroll down to view the whole page. Whether you go this road is up to you, but it’s important to be aware that any information lying below the fold is going to get less attention than that above the fold.
This leaves you with around 14 square inches of space. That’s not a lot of room, so choose only a select few elements for the page. The number of products, services or sections you feature on your home page will to some extent be guided by your industry. Retailers, for example, tend to display 10 or more products on their home page, as well as categories, so featuring less may make your site look skimpy. Professional service companies, on the other hand, tend to talk about only two or three things on their home pages.
Home page SEO
There is plenty of room for search engine optimisation on a home page, because your main keywords for your SEO plan should aptly describe your business. Keywords should fit into a home page’s content quite naturally. Your company motto, for example, is a prime place to put your main keyword, as are your categories and featured sections. Talk to our consultants at SEO Consult Australia about keywords and home page content.
The most important thing to remember when it comes to home pages is not to overwhelm the user. Home pages that are jam-packed with information come across in much the same way as someone yelling in a customer’s face. Check your industry standard, and don’t be afraid to delegate information to interior pages.
Related posts:
- Where SEO and design don’t meet
- Your home page text
- Your home page is your hub
- Stale pages shed traffic
- Are you retail or research?
Tags: content, Keywords, Search Engine Optimisation, SEO, SEO Consult Australia
Link to us
If you want to link to this blog, copy and paste the following HTML code to your website.
