Does homepage SEO exist at all?
-
hi
Just read a Yoast article explaining that the homepage should never be optimized for a specific keyword and should only be optimized for its business or brand name.
i have a large site that I'd like to rank (or increase traffic for as I know people get irritated with that term now) for 'Campervan hire'. It has plenty of sub pages going after 'Campervan hire 'location'' for example.
it makes sense to me for the homepage keyword - my core keyword - to be 'Campervan hire' and for the homepage to be optimised for this. However, the article I've just read (https://yoast.com/homepage-seo/) suggests a separate page for this keyword.
What are your thoughts pls??
thanks
-
Thanks, this makes sense!
-
Hey James,
I read through the post and it's interesting because Yoast isn't necessarily saying homepage SEO doesn't exist (even though that's the name of the post... clickbait much?), he's saying you shouldn't be targeting it with one keyword. So if you go the route of targeting a general theme of the site + brand, then you're going to be much better off than simply trying to rank for the one keyword you want to rank for. Going back to my example of an attorney and using the general term of Criminal Defense, then using internal pages to rank for the most specific (and potentially more likely to convert) phrases is the better way to go.
All pages on the site should speak to the theme, because it will help users and Google understand what the site is about. For general, and especially local, terms I see a lot of homepages ranking well. Not optimizing the homepage could cause you to miss a large amount of users just starting their search. They may not know exactly what they need yet, but there is a need. The queries will start broad and get more specific as they hone in on what they really need. Make sure you catch the users on the broad query because they will be more likely to remember your brand later down the road.
-
Hi,
i do see what you mean and i think I can see the sense in what Yoast are saying. if I were typing a general term like 'Campervan hire' into search though, I'd not be looking for an informational page on this but to actually rent a camper. Coming across a homepage for rentals nationwide would seem a 'useful' result. My worry is that I'll miss an opportunity to rank well for a competitive keyword With my view.
Our high content/text pages are in the form of Campervan travel guides and so focus on visitors rather than engines. A page on Campervan hire for the sake of it may be a bit spammy.
Thanks again- James
-
Hi, thanks for this. I agree with you based on what I've read elsewhere. I have shared the link a few times but I guess it's not showing up.
Here it is again: https://yoast.com/homepage-seo/
if you google Yoast . Com / homepage - seo
thanks
-
Hi James,
As with most things in SEO, the answer is 'it depends'. If the only service you offer is 'campervan hire', I believe the homepage for that would work. Then, as you've already mentioned you do, have pages built out for more specifics terms like locations.
I think there are use-cases for using the homepage for some high-level, top of the funnel keywords that broadly describe a business. But for the most part, I do agree with the Yoast article, as it can be difficult to put content on the homepage of a site while maintaining the aesthetics of a homepage.
-
Hi Don
thanks for replying. Article: https://yoast.com/homepage-seo/
lm thinking it's wrong too. We rank #1 for a local camper rental website- the homepage optimized for the core/head keywords and it's always the page at the top.
James
-
I think the homepage should be optimized for the vertical or the wide-scope most competitive keyword. Your homepage will be the strongest and most authoritative page on the site, so leaving it optimized for just the brand (which you should rank well for anyway) is kind of a wasted opportunity. For example a DUI/DWI lawyer could optimize the home page for Criminal Defense Attorney, but then have sub pages for DUI and DWI to speak to the user with specifics about each case or the different types of situations. Start broader with the homepage and narrow down with internal pages.
Not optimizing the homepage would be a wasted opportunity in my opinion. Which Yoast article were you reading? Care to share a link?
-
Hi James,
An interesting question, my initial thoughts is that the Yoast article is wrong, or at the very least kind of wrong. In the sense that no one strategy is going to work for every site.
Do you have a link?
Interested to hear other opinions as well.
Don
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
In seo is it nesseccary ro optimize images as well?
Is it right Image optimization creates many advantages such as better user experience, faster page load times, and additional ranking opportunities. And, it's becoming an increasingly more important role in the website? Because I start a blog https://coinmasterfreespinslinks.com/ and need your suggestions seniors. Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | adsdsadsacd0 -
Does redoing a homepage impact search rankings?
Hello, all! Does anyone know if redesigning a website's homepage affects search rankings? I'm considering redoing my website's homepage - including rewriting the copy, and perhaps in Leadpages - but I don't want to compromise search. I gather that SEO is a bit of a black box, but am curious to hear others' perspectives before moving ahead. Thanks in advance for sharing your time and thoughts!
On-Page Optimization | | lightsfilmschool0 -
Is it OK to 301 redirect 1000s of duplicate random URLs to homepag?
Hello, We found a critical error in our site internal link structure and the way Google indexes it. Website has 1000s of URLs that are basically 50% match to homepage. They all start the same example.com/category/random/random I can do a redirect match and 301 them to homepage. This way 1000s of bogus url are not indexed and no value given. Is it OK to redirect so many URLs to homepage? Platform is creating these URLs because of search query, where it adds all site content to one page. Currently this search page /category / has own canonical and all those duplicate content URLs have canonical to that /category /. To fix my plan is to a. Remove canonical from /category / that way all those duplicate URLs don't have it either. B. Redirect match all URLs that have /category / in them to homepage. (this is most important page where 50% of that content is and should be the main page). Is this plan ok?
On-Page Optimization | | advertisingcloud1 -
SEO for page that is made up of multiple posts
When a page is made up of lots of individual wordpress posts, how should it be handled from an SEO perspective? Should the individual posts be hidden from the search engines and only the page url which contains all the posts collectivity be indexed? Page in question below: http://teammateworld.com/case-studies/ Thanks in advance.
On-Page Optimization | | Rich_H0 -
International SEO
We have a client who is looking to expand to other countries, particularly South America. What is my best route forward for SEO on a multi national site?
On-Page Optimization | | CreativeCow0 -
Can you set objectives for an SEO campaign?
We have been working with a client for 3 months and they've been happy with the progress we've made on their SEO and the resulting increase in rankings, traffic etc. They are renewing their contract for another 6 months but this time want to set some objectives and want us to suggest what those objectives are. Is it possible to set objectives when a great deal of the results can be out of our hands, eg, how Google works, level of interest in the client's products in the target market, whether they take on board our recommendations for changing their website content to get better seo results etc? What would other people be happy being set as their objectives for a campaign?
On-Page Optimization | | mfrgolfgti0 -
Is 302 Redirect a bad thing in SEO terms?
I am getting a lot of "302 (Temporary Redirects) = True" on many of my product URL's. What does it mean? Is it a bad thing to get these redirects? And how to fix them? Thanks.
On-Page Optimization | | SEOish0 -
Is an Overflow SEO friendly
Is an "overflow" (scrollbar) seo and Google friendly? I only ask because it hides part of the visible text.
On-Page Optimization | | BradBorst0