Sometimes, your site gets ranked highly in the Google results, but it’s the home page that shows, not the page which is directly relevant to the search. If that’s the case, it’s critical that there’s an easy path for visitors to get from your home page to the one you want them to see. If somebody has searched for ‘blue widgets’ and been offered your home page by Google, if they can’t immediately see the term ‘blue widgets’ when they arrive, many will just hit the back button. One typical situation is when the only reference to ‘blue widgets’ is invisible at first glance as it’s hidden under a ‘Products’ site navigation item. Don’t expect people to be enthusiastic enough to click on that to investigate.
But what are these important searches that you need to highlight on your home page? The answer lies in Google Search Console.
In the ‘Performance’ report’s filters section across the top, set the date to a decent period like a year, click “+ NEW” and add a “Page” set to “URL is exactly” and your home page, e.g http://www.bluewidgetcompany.co.uk/. This will show you the searches which have brought people directly to your home page. Click on “Impressions” to order them from the most frequently-shown first.
Obviously many will be based around your company name; however, you’ll probably find a few which are important, but for which you’d rather visitors were being sent directly to a particular page instead of the home page. For each of these searches, take a look at your home page as a first-time visitor would, and see if there’s an obvious link for that search allowing the visitor to get to the right place with a click. If not, think about creating one!