How to Improve Your Home Page SEO

If you’ve ever put a house on the market, you know how important curb appeal is to the selling process. If the front of the home looks old, worn out, and dated, people won’t be that excited about it. On the other hand, if it’s in good repair, landscaped nicely, and looks up-to-date people are more likely to come in and look around – and want to buy!

The home page of your website is similar. 

When your home page looks good, it’ll make search engines happy, and they’ll want to show it off! With that in mind, here are some tips to spruce up your home page so it’s more appealing to search engines and in turn, potential clients. Keep in mind that there’s more that goes into optimizing your home page for SEO, but this list is a good starting point.

HEADER

This is the first chance you have to grab your visitors’ attention. Your first inclination may be to put your business name first, but this may not be the best option. For example, let’s say you have a dog walking business in Indianapolis, Indiana and the name is “Paws on the Go.” Instead of making “Paws on the Go” your header, use a phrase with your location and service like “Indianapolis Dog Walking” with a sub-heading of “by Paws on the Go”.

This is for two reasons:

• Most people coming to your website for the first time know they’re looking for a dog walker in Indianapolis. But it’s after they find you that they’ll learn the name of your business. Not the other way around.

• In the example above “Indianapolis Dog Walking” would be your H1 tag (a title tag), which is a crucial SEO signal to search engines. (see below for info on title tags)

If you plan on using a large hero image (an image that spans across the entire page), it’s crucial that any text over that image is easy to read. Some website builders will allow you to do this right in the app. If not, it can easily be done in Canva.

INTRODUCTION

Provide a brief description of what services you offer, the problem you solve, and why people should hire you. Make it as compelling as possible so people feel like you have exactly what they are looking for.

SERVICES

Write short descriptions of your services. Add a Call to Action (CTA), leading to a page (or pages) with more information. Get creative with your CTA. Rather than “learn more” be specific: pet sitting info, dog walking details, etc.

SOCIAL PROOF - TESTIMONIALS

Add your best testimonials, displaying no more than three at once. Include clients’ names, and a photo if possible to make them more personal and authentic.

There are two ways to do this:

• Hard code the testimonials on the page, meaning they are a static part of your website and do not change.

• Add a feed from Google, Facebook, Yelp, etc. Select testimonials that are at least 4 stars or better.

CREDENTIALS

Add icons/logos to affiliations, awards, certifications, etc. If you have quite a few, pick the most important and add the rest on your About page. 

FOOTER

This appears on every page and will include important information about your business 

What to include:

• Business name

• Address

• If you have a Google My Business listing (GMB) it is important to have your address in your footer. It is best to have your full address, but needs to, at least, include your city and zip code. Google will use this to keep your GMB verified.

• Clickable phone number

• Clickable email address or contact form

• Business hours (if appropriate)

• Social icons linking to your accounts*

• Map of location or service area (optional)
  
  

*Add social icons to the footer. When they are in the header, it invites people to leave your website right away. Once they do, they may end up going down a rabbit hole on a social media platform, forgetting about your website!

OTHER IMPORTANT THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND

• Use keywords in your content, headings and title tags. Include keywords in context, in a way that makes sense for the reader.

• Ensure images are relevant.

• Add alt tags to your images (see sources for more info on alt tags)

• Optimize images. If you’re using WordPress this can be done with a plugin like Smush, Hummingbird, or ShortPixel

• Include one H1 tag on each page and make use of other header tags to indicate important sections.

• Use internal linking. For example, if you mention pet sitting services on the home page, link that phrase to your services page.

Header Tags

Header tags (H1 through H6, with H1 being the most important) are HTML elements used to define headings and subheadings on a page. They help organize content making it easier for users and search engines to understand the structure and main topics.

Working on your website’s SEO doesn’t have to be a daunting task. If you’re just building your website you can work on the SEO as you build. On the other hand, if you already had a website, take some time to implement one piece at a time. It will be worth the time you invest.

Sources

Google image SEO best practices, Google Search Central

How To Use Header Tags: SEO Best Practices, Search Engine Journal, May 31, 2024

What Is an Alt Tag and How Should You Use It?, Elegant Themes, October 2, 2022

Website Footer Design Best Practices: 27 Things to Put at the Bottom, Orbit Media

Therese Kopiwoda, owner of Social Media Hound, and is a skilled WordPress web designer and Canva designer. She works closely with her clients to develop a website and/or content that reflects the character of their business, while attracting their ideal clients. She shares her home, and her heart, with her dog Isaac.