How much text is recommended for a homepage?
-
I'm working with a client who is redesigning their site and the new design is very image heavy. Does anyone have any recommendations on the minimum amount of text the homepage should have so that it will rank (or at least not be penalized)?
It's a site created by a known brand, but the site itself and URL are relatively new.
Katherine
-
I like Patrick's answer and agree that you need enough words to be able to orient visitors and search engines. While there is no best practice minimum, I personally aim for at least 100 words.
-
Hi there
I added a few more resources - let me know if those work. Sorry, one of those "oh yeah!" moments after I posted!
Good luck!
-
Thanks! I'm familiar with the length of content generally (I like Neil Patel's study) but in this instance it's a homepage/magazine type format with very little text and only a few links to articles.
As a new brand I think it needs a bit of placeholder text to orient the new user, but I was just wondering if there were any studies specifically about the homepage and how much text you might need.
-
Hi there
There's no right answer for this. You'll see homepages and sites ranking with little to no content, and some with novels. If you have images on your homepage, talk to your web development team about bring the text out of the images to live on top of it so it can be crawled. Also, mind your image optimization.
I would focus more on your bounce rate - if it's high, maybe you need some persuasion. Your analytics are your best friend here. You can also test different content or layouts.
Quicksprout has some great tips as well that don't discuss the length, but how much it takes you to persuade the user - there's no "best practice" length, it's just what you need to get your point across and what you need to get the user to continue to move through the site - check it out here.
I also highly suggest this resource from SEOBlog.
You should read through this ranking factors study from SearchMetrics where they break down the average amount of text/content on pages for the first ten results, just remember that this isn't universal or gospel, your audience and what they are searching for is a unique ballgame.
Hope this helps! Good luck!
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
-
Is Brand name anchor text on a widget Spam
We have partial match penalty in WMT on one of our smaller sites. There are a few (less than 10) instances of widgets linking to us using our Brand Name as the anchor text. Would this fail a reconsideration request do you think? The widget links without the no-follow attribute.
On-Page Optimization | | Simonws0011 -
What should I title my homepage tab?
Our homepage tab just reads "home." Am I missing out on something with that? Should I re-write the tab to our brand name or a general descriptor? Best, Ruben
On-Page Optimization | | KempRugeLawGroup0 -
Chrome Add-on - see text version?
I used to have a chrome add-on to see the cached text version of a website. I lost it and was wondering if anyone knew an alternative or a good add-on Cyto
On-Page Optimization | | Bio-RadAbs0 -
Using a keyword on homepage of a blog
I have a blog and the homepage has the 5 most recent posts. I ran a report card on my homepage for my main keyword. One of the problems is that the keyword only appears 1 time. I don't want to put it in the signature of every post because I found that causing problems with self-cannibalizing. I checked my competitor and they got a check mark for this but I looked at their homepage and I found the keyword NOWHERE! So where is my competitor hiding the keywords and how can I get the keywords on the homepage when the content is constantly changing? Thanks in advance!
On-Page Optimization | | 2bloggers0 -
Only homepage in Google
Hello SEOmozzers, A colleague of mine started up a site here: www.wikiboedel.nl. Sadly only the homepage is indexed in Google. It's a wordpress install. Robots.txt seems fine, all pages are on index and follow. Can't see why only the home is indexed in Google. Do you know whats going wrong? Please tell me. Tank you.
On-Page Optimization | | B.Great0 -
What should I put in the image ALT and title text for blogger?
Hello, I wanted to know what should I put in the image ALT and title text for blogger. I've read so many damn articles about ALT text and Title text for blogger; nothing explained what I put in it though. What am I supposed to put in it that will help me with my on page optimization? (Stuff like do I use spaces or dashes, do I put my keyword in there, how many characters should I not exceed, do I put one word or two words?) If I have a picture of a backpack, what should the alt text be? What if I have 10 different pictures of backpacks on 1 page? How about if I had a backpack next to a tv in an image? A specific answer or a detailed one is nice!
On-Page Optimization | | 6786486312640 -
Random Products on Homepage?
On our homepage, would having 8 randomly selected products from your catalogue (some of which contain keywords) be good, bad or have no effect on rankings? The proucts change with every refresh. Some may remain the same, but just change position.
On-Page Optimization | | filarinskis0 -
Does link text "more information" have more weight than a normal link?
Does the anchor text "more information" hold any additional weight than any other anchor text? My suspicion is no, but just wanted to confirm.
On-Page Optimization | | nicole.healthline0