Many individuals still believe that a homepage should be keyword-optimized. Although some of you may find success in optimizing your homepage for search engines, there is no doubt that your homepage shouldn’t serve just to improve your Google ranking! In this piece, we’ll examine the primary function of your homepage and offer advice on how to optimize it to its fullest potential.
Rankings, showcase, and/or branding?
Although you might be able to rank your homepage for each of the numerous key phrases, you must ask yourself if it is the best course of action. In situations like this, targeted landing pages frequently perform better. Consider your homepage as a kind of display of who you are and what you have to offer. Your website could serve as a jumping off point for all those conversions. A strong site also assists in developing and maintaining your brand! With the help of SEO company, you can find the right keywords for the homepage to rank.
What is your website about?
Please examine the subject of your website first, please. It may seem apparent, but your homepage should reflect your website’s originality and objective.
Do you truly take the time to write a welcoming message for your visitors on your homepage, or is it just a long list of your products and services? Writing “Welcome to our website” is now among the most unpleasant things a website owner can do. Telling a visitor what they can find on your website is what we mean when we say “welcome them.” What is your primary offering? What information about your products and business can be obtained on the website? The most crucial question is: What is the visitor’s key advantage (USP; Unique Selling Point)? How do you distinguish yourself from the crowd?
Make your USP specific
Making your Unique Selling Point obvious is the second homepage optimization suggestion. Online searches will reveal that many sites have trouble explaining this. However, it’s not always simple to be crystal clear about what your business offers the client.
You frequently come across websites for business counseling with taglines like “Helping you improve yourself!” That doesn’t make for a strong introduction or tagline because it says nothing about the company’s mission. You might as well be buying fantastic running shoes that will help you get faster. Make sure the main advantages you provide to the visitor are included in your introductory paragraph. The phrase “coaching consultants using self-reflection” would already provide a great deal more information.
Something must have an understandable flow in order to be remembered and stand out; buzzwords or hyperbole are not necessary. If you can, attempt to explain the issue that individuals are experiencing, how your solution resolves it, and end on a positive note. similar to what Slack advertises on their homepage:
Build trust
The trust element has grown in significance for today’s websites. Make sure that your website projects a sense of reliability both psychologically and technically by using modern software and SSL certifications. If you provide a service or sell a product, customers need to be aware of your legitimacy. Why should customers purchase your goods? Why do you consider yourself an authority on the matter, and is your solution the best one?
Whenever possible, show visitors evidence of your accomplishments. Add endorsements, reviews, suggestions from other professionals, publications in which you appeared – everything works. Don’t forget to include links to these because there is nothing more upsetting than trying to support your assertions but failing. Of course, if necessary, you can easily choose a subset of reviews and create a separate page for the rest. Just be careful not to overdo it on the homepage; you want to keep your site simple and free of unnecessary distractions.
Guide your visitor
Your homepage should also include directions for visitors. Make sure your homepage directs visitors to your primary pages. Additionally, you need the slogan or introduction we discussed before for your homepage. However, if a visitor couldn’t click from your homepage to one of your primary or revenue-generating pages, it would be of little use. These are the pages where you would complete the contact form, close the sale, or sell the product.
Although by no means comprehensive, these are the default “guides” on the majority of homepages:
Sliders, or better alternatives
It should be clear that sliders are not our favorite food at Yoast. However, a slider is frequently employed to advertise these pages. One of the reasons we don’t like sliders is the lack of attention these pages receive. However, the slider area is an excellent place for advice. That would make sense if you included a terrific call-to-action button in the so-called hero image of your featured goods. Please rotate that with each browser refresh if you want to. It’s a terrific technique to change the appearance of your homepage each time someone visits.
The menu
The menu on your website is the most obvious. Have you given your menu any thought? Is it organized and directed?
Your products
The opportunities are infinite if you operate an internet store. The complete category list shouldn’t be included in your sidebar, though. Concentrate on your most popular categories and place them prominently on your homepage. Put your top-selling item on the site, maybe in the larger image we indicated under “sliders” above. Be innovative. The greatest place on your website to advertise a new product, for example, would seem to be your homepage. Make sure visitors are aware of any sales you are having by placing a notice on the homepage.
Search as a call-to-action
The search box is frequently found in the header or footer of websites. A search bar will likely be useful to your visitor if you sell thousands of items or have produced hundreds of articles for your website. Why not use that as your primary call-to-action and make it the main piece on your website rather than that slider? Step two is really carrying out this. Making ensuring your search results pages appear good is the first step.
Contact information
Additionally, you need to be aware that a returning visitor might only be seeking your contact information. Include a link to your contact page when it makes sense to do so. The last item in your menu could have that, but it could also be an address in the footer or a (short) contact form in the sidebar. Your phone number should be active on mobile devices so that guests can call you by tapping the number.
Do not clutter!
Don’t give out too much advice on your website! Pick two or three actionable guides that make sense for a website like yours instead of clogging up your homepage with a variety of them. Pay attention to these. Keep page layouts straightforward and user-friendly.
Related Article: Web Design Principles: Guide to Create a Visually Engaging Website
Homepage optimization: the conclusion
Homepage should make it clear to the visitors what they can find on the website. It should concentrate on what makes you special. Additionally, it ought to direct visitors to your most crucial pages. You might be able to concentrate on these issues while still optimizing your homepage for a certain keyword.