Never underestimate the importance of getting your Search Engine Optimisation right, from your home page onwards, if you want to grow your business. Especially if you have a Wix eCommerce website.
Did you know that 65% of eCommerce sessions begin with the potential buyer posing a question to Google? Whilst searches including 'near me today/tonight' grew by a staggering 900% over a two year period!
That is convincing evidence that you have to know how to optimise your Wix homepage content for SEO if you want sales success!
Getting started
First, there are some nuts-and-bolts things you can do to boost homepage SEO.
One is to turn off scrolling effects in your site settings, and anything that can make it hard for Google to ‘read’ the content on your Wix site.
As you probably know, Google ranks pages – and assigns them a place in search results – using complex and ever-changing algorithms (referred to as spider bots).
The easier you make it for Google to get information from your homepage, the better your chance of ranking highly in searches.
Much of that pivots on shouting out your brand statements loud and proud (more on this later). Too much clutter or distraction can “muddy the water” and make it hard for bots to crawl across your homepage. Succinct and strong is better than a page packed with ‘whistles and bells’!
Next, in your Wix Dashboard, make sure you toggle the switch that allows your site to be searchable! Also, play around with the Wix SEO Wiz to optimise your whole website. Add strong keywords to the architecture of your homepage, and all other pages too.
Which leads us to, what are keywords?
Selecting the right keywords
Choose keywords for your whole site, and especially your homepage content, with care.
Keywords are the likely terms and questions your potential customers would use in their searches. Such as Disney character bedding, jogging pants for women or restaurants in Basingstoke.
What are long-tailed keywords? These are slightly longer than normal keywords and include descriptive elements that make it more likely that you will rank highly in search results. For instance, red Mickey Mouse character bedding, size 20 pink women’s jogging pants or Thai restaurants Basingstoke.
Remember, if your location is significant to your SEO success and you only service people within the town or city you are located in, make that especially clear in your homepage content. Cupcake shop will not get you the same level of attention as Clitheroe cupcake shop, or cupcake shop near me.
Be clear on your Brand
Your homepage content needs to weave in those keywords well, but you need to marry this with making your brand obvious and powerful.
Remember, brand and logo are not the same. Your brand is what you stand for as a company, what makes your product special and relevant, and how can it meet your customers ‘pains and gains’.
Google takes homepages more seriously if they include strong, clear brand statements.
You are also more likely to hold on to user attention and convert leads if they can see in a glance what you are all about.
Create genuinely interesting content
Let’s start this section with an important DO NOT do. The days of keyword stuffing are long gone!
You can’t write nonsensical content for a Wix homepage that’s just a load of searchable terms strung together. Google algorithms ‘punish’ this sort of fakery. Plus, page visitors will have a poor User Experience (UX). That adds up to fewer leads and failure to convert the ones you do get!
The same applies to repetitive content where Google is concerned. It’s likely to decrease your chances of appearing high in search results.
You must include original, well-written content on all pages. Especially the homepage, where you’re trying to grab and hold the attention of site visitors.
The homepage content should be genuinely interesting and insightful, with keywords worked in naturally and seamlessly.
To improve your homepage SEO, make sure you periodically freshen up this content to keep it up to date and accurate. This could be items from your social media, the opening paragraphs of blogs, or new product/promotion news.
Use headings effectively
Any titles and descriptions used on your homepage must be unique to your venture, fresh and meaningful. Repetition gets you marked down by Google algorithms.
Getting your homepage titles optimised for searches includes being strategic when choosing the text used in H1, H2 and H3 headings. Google takes important cues from these. Your primary keywords should be in your H1 headings, as they pack the biggest SEO punch.
Make your homepage ‘responsive’ and easy to navigate
It’s worth emphasising that your homepage on your Wix website needs to meet the needs of two primary audiences, with similar needs!
Both Google’s algorithms and your potential customers want to be able to get relevant information quickly, with the minimum amount of scrolling and clicking. The more slow to use your homepage is, the less likely it is that Google and your visitors will be impressed!
This requires you to structure your homepage in a way that’s easy to scan visually.
Keep in mind that on average over 50% of your site users will be using their mobile phones (a figure that grows every year). When you have a mobile site optimised for all devices and browsers, it’s called a responsive website.
Both Google and page visitors want content that’s clear on small screens. They don’t want to have to pinch, adjust, click repeatedly or squint! So, a Wix homepage that doesn’t perform well on mobiles decreases both lead generation and lead conversion.
Captions for images
Good imagery on your Wix website homepage will help your UX and therefore your sales. However, to boost your SEO, make sure you add text describing the website images in the ALT text settings of each image.
Choose words that increase the likelihood of that photo appearing within Google Image search results.
Bring in the experts
There are other things you can to do optimise your Wix homepage for search results – and boost lead conversion. This includes creating strong and genuine backlinks – connections with other websites – and keeping track of Google analytics to make agile and effective changes quickly.
If all of that sounds like an overwhelming list of how to optimise WiX homepage content for SEO, you can either take our Wix SEO Course and learn what it really takes to get your Wix website ranking high and driving you a constant flow of new business, or you can contact the Wix SEO Guy with any questions you have.