I want to follow up on something I touched on a few days ago. [Reference article: Google as Part of Your Shopping Cart]. For well-optimized sites, you can find two-thirds of your site traffic entering your site on a deeper-level page—not your home page.
As people search, they will type in queries that are more and more specific. General keywords often don’t produce highly valuable results. For example, I could search on "wine" but if I searched on "red wines from Spain," I will be further along in getting the information I was looking for.
The further along someone is in the buying funnel, the more specific the search query. And the more specific the search query, the more likely they are to click through to a deeper level page with specific information, and not a home page that typically has general information.
In my many years in working in this industry I have been part of building many new sites. Early in the project, designers work up creative concepts that include home page concepts and a drill down page. Since search engines create multiple entry points, high volumes traffic can enter your site and never see your home page.
Home pages are becoming less important, thought we still treat them like they are the most important page on a site. Clients base creative decisions or design a navigation structure based on how it fits on the home page.
Why do we continue to give the home page a level of importance that it may no longer deserve?
Home pages are great at guiding visitors. Based on the copy and design, customers can (or should) quickly move deeper toward the information and products they want.
But if someone starts on your product page, do they know what to do next? It’s more important for the navigation structure to work and seem natural on the deep product page. The design of the product page (or other deeper level pages) needs to be more helpful and intuitive than the home page.
Who cares about your home page? It’s highly likely your customers don’t.
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