The Design vs. SEO question has come up so often in my career that it really does warrant a blog post.
So many business owners want their home page to be gorgeous, AND think that means little and often NO content. I would like to redefine beautiful design in the web industry. The current misconception is that a beautiful design means three things:
1. The entire home page fits “above the fold”
2. There is lots of movement and color
3. Content is for interior pages and less is more on the home page
The redefinition take into consideration:
1. “Above the Fold” - This concept in itself is not sustainable as the designer and business owner have no idea or control over the size and resolution of the visitor’s monitor. The average monitor size and resolution is growing so are you willing to redesign in a year or so? Also, (and more importantly) search engines use the home page to find out what you deem important on interior pages. People have done studies on this concept. Here’s the article I read this morning that inspired me to write this post.
2. Movement and color - As a user/buyer I think less is more here, for sure! I’ve seen home pages that are entirely built in Flash. Most people have landed on a particular page based on a search. The home page should clearly let them know they’ve found what they are looking for and point them to more information about that topic. These days, with new search friendly animation you can certainly use flash and Ajax and other “Web 2.0″ technologies to do exactly that. I have rarely seen it done well and is usually distracting. Often, because the business owner doesn’t understand what is SEO friendly and what isn’t and the web developer wants the job done quickly and profitably, the appropriate technologies and methodologies to achieve SEO advantage as well as the desired “effect” is not even attempted. Even if the business owner knew about these things, is developing an Ajax solution in the budget? Simplify.
3. Content is for the interior? Just like in modern warfare, the front line has disappeared. Every page is a “landing” page. The official home page, being the top page regarding the directory hierarchy (unless it’s flat) and having the appropriate home page name (index, home, default, etc.) is more of a signpost to the search engines about the most important information on the site than a “welcome” page to searchers.
The bottom line and sustainable concept here is - the home page content should be as long as is needed to emphasize the importance of interior pages, to create an intuitive experience for the visitor and to provide the most useful information possible.
The best idea for the home page as it relates to content is to keep it fresh! If you have a blog, feed the teasers to your site’s home page. Post industry news articles there. Or just go update it on a regular basis. Stagnant home page content will not rank as well as frequently updated content.