Loading ...Home pages often get treated like the foyer of a building. They introduce the website and help to direct internet users on to pages that will be more useful to them. These are functions that every home page has to perform, but treating your home page as some kind of throughway can have a ruinous effect on your SEO.
A home page is an important player in search engine optimization. Usually, home pages are where search engines begin their scans. More often than not, home pages are where new internet users begin to learn about your business. They’re also where people go when they’re looking for something new on your site.
If your home page is nothing but a decorated lobby, you can lose the attention of all of the above groups. Yet many websites treat their home pages in exactly this way. Think about the number of times you’ve entered a website to find the home page filled with links and pictures. It might have enticed you further into the site, but it wouldn’t have provided any meaningful information. Using a home page in this way is a waste in general, even disregarding the optimization considerations.
Your home page is important to your SEO plan for a massive number of reasons. Here are just a few of them:
- Links. Home pages tend to be the source of the most of the links in your site, possibly excluding your site map if you have one. The search engines naturally inspect this link source very closely. If it appears to not have much to say, it’s possible your site will be downgraded in relevance to your keyword topics. Talk to our experts at SEO Consult Australia about how links work.
- More links. Inbound links will go to your home page by default. Even if you manage your link building campaign very carefully, there will always be sites that will direct their link to your home page. It’s just what everyone is used to. If this wonderful link juice is pointing to a page which appears to have little meaningful content, it’s being wasted.
- Losing users. Most experts agree that the more times a user has to click through your pages, the more likely you are to lose them altogether. By putting up a first page that is essentially just for show, you’re risking losing a significant chunk of your traffic right off the bat. After spending so much time in getting your link to the top of the search results and making it look more attractive to your target user groups, it’s a shame to put them off with a bad home page.
- Missed opportunities. If Google and the other search engines are paying more attention to your home page, it’s a good idea for you to give them something to look at. Every time a search engine spider visits your home page, you have an opportunity to strengthen your relationship with your keywords and with the search engine generally. Setting up your home page as a foyer completely ignores this opportunity.
Related posts:
- Sending the right message on your home page
- Use Your Home Page as a Treasure Map
- Your home page text
- The elements of a link
Tags: content, Keywords, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, SEO Consult
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