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Designing an SEO-Friendly Web Home Page - Top Ten Best Practices

Your home page is your most valuable asset for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Here are the top ten tips to improve your home page, and leverage it to climb to the top of Google and/or Bing for your target SEO keyword searches.

By Jason McDonald Senior SEO Instructor - JM Internet Group. Posted: March 5, 2011 Share this Top 10 w/ friends! Copy, paste, email this link: http://bit.ly/e1jQEV >>View these tools as a video!

The Big Picture

1.	Use your Home Page TITLE Tag The <Title> tag is the most important tag on any page. You get one, and only one, home page; on that page you get one, and only one, <Title> tag. Embed your most important, highest priority keywords into the home page TITLE tag for SEO success. Character limit: 69 characters visible; 80 characters indexed; most important keywords on the left.
2.	Measure Every Word For all websites, especially for small websites, every single word on the home page has enormous power. So weigh every word, and place target keywords strategically on the home page. If you are targeting local search (for example, 'Dallas Texas Chiropractor') be sure to put your Dallas address on your home page. Every word on the page has amazing power.
3.	Leverage your Home Page as an SEO Gateway Your home page functions as an SEO gateway. Whatever is 'one click' from the home page is seen by Google as enormously important. Therefore, identify your top priority keywords; create landing pages for these top priority keywords; and leverage the home page for 'one click' access from the home page to the landing pages. This helps both the home page and the landing pages in terms of the strategic keywords.
4.	Freshness and News Counts for SEO Google loves news. Having news and blog posts on your website 'freshens' your site, and sends a signal to Google that you are alive, your business is a going concern, etc. So as you create news and blog posts, rotate snippets of them on your home page, and create 'one click' access from the home page to the posts. This freshens your home page, and your website. You will reap SEO rewards!
5.	Create a Top Heavy Visual Design Google loves keyword-heavy, textual websites. Google ignores Adobe flash and images. Flash and images are eye candy for your human targets, however. So, put your visual eye candy at the top of your pages and put your keyword-heavy text for Google at the bottom. Get the best of both worlds.
6.	Think about Target Actions Your website should have a goal, and (almost) every page on your website should have defined goals or actions that you want your customers to do. Registrations (for free seminars, free consultations, etc.), and/or e-commerce sales are common goals. So, for your home page, try to define target actions and use your home page to lead to those actions. Remember, it's not about web traffic it's about registrations and/or sales!
7.	Home Page Load Times Google Webmaster tools now tracks the load times of your website. Fast is better than slow. Check your website speed, including your home page speed, frequently, and make sure you are in the to 90% of sites. Slow-loading sites are penalized for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) purposes.
8.	Position Your Home Page in your Link-Building Strategy Making your home page powerful has a lot to do with inbound links. On your own site, link back to your home page preferably with keyword categories inside of the A HREF tag. As you solicit links, try to get links FROM other peoples' home pages TO your home page. As you give links, in general, link outbound from pages other than your home page - recognize that your home page has your strongest link juice so get it (and give it) judiciously.
9.	Check Your Home Page Rank Use free tools, such as those we cover in our free Top Ten SEO Tools webinar to check the rank of your website, and home page, for your target keywords. If you are slipping, re-write your home page content and tag structure to target those weak keywords. SEO is a competitive game, so pay attention to your rank in the competition!
10.	Never Stop Learning! Monitor your own home page, and become an SEO home page critic. Look at home pages not just in your own industry, but in others. Take classes on SEO, read books, attend webinars. Become an SEO critic, and learn to compare/contrast your home page with those of others. Imitation is the highest form of flattery, and it's also a great strategy for SEO home page success!