SEO : Home Page SEO

It is very important to design the homepage of our site to meet the needs of human AND non-human visitors.

• humans must "get it" right way : what do these people offer...? what can I get...? where do I go...?
  
  
• spiders must also "get it" right away: where are the links...? what are the keywords on the page and in the links...?

Both want content, and both want to explore... so in many ways they are actually not that different.

And both will leave immediately if they don't "get it".

Considerations

Tables - spiders go down the left hand column first then the right, so make sure there is plenty of keyword-rich content in the first cell it gets to.

Frames - ensure the sitemap is linked from within the <noframes> section, otherwise the spider will have difficulty discovering your content.

Javascript - spiders can't read javascript, so check your main navigation / menus etc can still be navigated with javascript turned off

Animation - again spiders can't read flash or silverlight, so check your main navigation / menus etc can still be navigated with javascript turned off

Sitemap - ensure there is a sitemap link at the bottom of the home page, as well as text links containing keywords to other key pages/sections

Use a text browser (such as Lynx) to see how a spider views your home page.

	Do... ensure a human visitor is presented with a clear message about who you are and what you offer ensure there is clear navigation, for humans and spiders ensure there is a sitemap link at the bottom of the home page, as well as text links to key sections
	Don't... rely on javascript/flash navigation alone try to stuff too much content onto your home page go live without testing your site in a text browser

http://lynx.isc.org - Lynx text browser - press 'g' then type in your URL and hit enter