Homepage Content & Keywords
Your homepage content is often the first impression a prospective client gets of your firm when visiting your website. It's also very important when it comes to Search Engine Optimisation because it is indexed by search engines more frequently than other pages in a website.
Search engines 'crawl' website homepages regularly to analyse content for key phrases and keyword terms to align them with terms that users are searching for. So paying attention to the quality of your homepage content is important.
Even when users have landed on other pages of your website first (e.g. via search engine searches) they are likely to want to view your homepage to get an overall impression about your business or navigate to other important content.
You should aim for at least 400 words of informative and relevant homepage content, giving visitors an overview of your business and describing what you have to offer with clear calls to action, hyperlinked text (linking descriptive words to internal pages, such as services) to direct the user toward relevant content and help them engage with your firm.
It's important that the keywords and phrases you build into your content fit naturally within that content, matching the overall tone and don't feel out of place. Over doing it with keywords or just adding them collectively as sentences or paragraphs can actually hurt your search engine rankings as well as making it unappealing for users to read.
Locating, reviewing and editing your home page content
It is a good idea to review your home page content from time to time to make sure the information on it is relevant.
In most cases your home page content will be at the top of your 'Pages' list in the left toolbar in CCH Web Manager. If you wish to edit it you can do so by clicking the Edit button in the top right of the Web Manager window.
In some instances, your home page content may be made up of several different content areas including a main text area, text within an image slider, or you may have feature panels such as services or staff profiles displayed on your home page. Simply click the component you would like to edit to access the editing mode. Some widgets have special editing functionalities. For more information visit the Widgets section of this help centre.
Tips for quality homepage content
Make Your Value Proposition Clear and Prominent
Your key products and services should feature prominently on your homepage. When visitors land on your homepage, they should know immediately what you are offering them – and how you stand out from your competition.
Optimize Your Headings
Your headings and subheadings are powerful for search, so make sure you are making the most of them. When implementing your homepage content, be sure to use your 'Headings' format drop-down for your titles. Using the headings functions helps search engines distinguish the hierarchy of content on the page. Your homepage should include only one main H1 heading and each other subheading should be an H2 or H3, in accordance with their prominence in the hierarchy. Note that the H1 heading should be very relevant to the content on the page, otherwise it will not rank well.
Add Relevant Keywords
Add home page text that includes keywords relevant to your business - services you offer, firm profile etc.
If you need some direction as to commonly searched terms, check out the keyword planner in Google AdWords. You don't have to sign up/pay, you can use step 2 of the Google AdWords setup for inspiration - https://ads.google.com/home/.
Call-To-Action (CTA)
A CTA is a link/hyperlink in your content that will take the user on their next natural step, if a client reads all the way to the bottom of the content a CTA could also be a button that will lead them further into the site. Optimize your CTAs by making them more descriptive, as opposed to the generic "Click Here." Give the user a reason to click through to the information - try linking a line of descriptive text like "View our range of business services".
Please note: Depending on the design of you website, your home page's content may not be a single page sitting in the 'Home' folder but may be made up of several different pages which may include services or features pages from the 'Features' folder.
We believe your Search Engine Optimisation strategy including content, link building, page titles and more is best done by those who know your business best - you! We have put together a checklist to help you manage this yourself.