5 Pro Tips To Setting Up Your Homepage

Happy Good Friday everyone! 

There are a few must-dos to meet certain minimum requirements before Google even considers you as a valid entity on the web. So today I would like to share a few pro tips on how to set up your homepage. An Easter gift from me to you :)

Homepage Content

As for content, we know that Google marks all pages less than 300 words as a “thin” page. This means that if your page doesn’t have enough words or alt text content to describe what your website is about, Google will consider you as not worthy to serve up to organic traffic. For your homepage however, meeting that minimum is not enough when following industry standards. Commonly at SEO agencies, 1000 word homepages are the standard. At Local Spear Leads, we highly recommend hitting 1500 words for your homepage to thoroughly describe your service and set a good foundation. However, do try to watch out for keyword stuffing. Our rule of thumb is to stay within 1% to 2% of keywords per page. So if you have 1500 words, try not to have to have keywords over 2% of that content. 

H1 text

I had covered this in the Contractor SEO guidelines, your H1 text is the title of your page. This text should be something related to your page and topic. However, many times we see that clients have a phone number, city, or promotion as their H1 text. So be sure that the H1 is something relevant and permanent. For example you can use the name of your company or “local [blank] service near you”. If you want to have your number displayed first without changing the layout of your site, one trick you can use is to change the phone number to a picture instead of text. 

Contact Form

A rookie mistake for homepages is when there isn't immediate access to contact information or way to capture data. Make sure there is a simple and clear way to contact your business, considering if the goal of your website is to generate business through contacts.

Load Speed

This may be technical but even as a simple page build, don’t try to cram high data files onto the first page. Slower loading speeds will deter Google from showing your website because it would cause lesser satisfaction to searchers. Try to keep things simple and leave the pictures or imported videos to a minimum or on a separate page.

Index Pages/ Internal linking

Lastly, to maximize SEO, build out other pages and have them link from your homepage. These pages do not have to be shown on your menu or have to be visible from anywhere else. Having extra pages linked from your homepage will show Google that your homepage is not just a landing page. It will be a much more convincing argument to them that your page is legitimate and has real content to serve to online searchers. 

By executing these tips we have found that even small local pages can rank within the top 5 of their town. So make sure to check through these topics and make the change as soon as possible. If you don’t see any immediate improvements, just know that Google crawlers take months to adjust to website changes. So be patient or give a shout and we’ll provide a free audit of your homepage for you!

I wish everyone a Good Friday and a Happy Easter!