# Homepage

Category: [On-Page & Content](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/category/on-page-content/) › [Internal linking, structure & UX](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/category/on-page-content/internal-linking-structure-ux/) · Also known as: home page, start page, root page

**Homepage** is the page at the root of a domain or subdomain, for example `https://example.com/`. Google defines it that way in its documentation on site names: the home page is "the domain or subdomain level root URI." In most sites it is the main entry point and the hub that links to the main sections.

## What matters for the homepage in SEO?

- **Crawlability.** Google states that the home page must be crawlable for features such as site names. If it is blocked, they may not work.
- **One version.** `http` and `https`, `www` and non-www can all return the same homepage. Google's site-name documentation says that if duplicates exist, the same structured data should be used on all of them. The better fix is to redirect to a single version.
- **Links to key sections.** Google describes that it discovers new pages when it extracts a link from a known page, for example a category hub page that links to a new blog post. A homepage that links to the main categories gives crawlers a start.
- **Structured data.** For the `WebSite` markup that supports site names, Google requires placement on the homepage.
- **Title and branding.** Yoast recommends aiming the homepage at the brand name rather than many generic keywords, since dedicated pages exist for those.

## Example

```html
<link rel="canonical" href="https://www.example.com/">
```

On a site served from `https://www.example.com/`, this tag on `https://example.com/` and on `https://www.example.com/index.html` points both to the preferred homepage URL.

## Common mistakes

- **Several reachable versions.** Variants such as `/index.html` or a non-preferred host stay accessible without redirect or canonical.
- **Navigation only through scripts.** Google can generally only crawl links that are `<a>` elements with an `href` attribute, so menu links built only with script events may not be followed.
- **Homepage blocked or noindexed after a launch.** A staging setting carried into production is a common cause in practice (assessment).

## Related terms

- [Entry page](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/entry-page/index.md)
- [Website navigation](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/website-navigation/index.md)
- [Internal linking](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/internal-linking/index.md)
- [Title tag](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/title-tag/index.md)
- [Brand SERP](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/brand-serp/index.md)
- [www vs. non-www](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/www-vs-non-www/index.md)

## Sources

- [Site names in Google Search – Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/site-names)
- [In-depth guide to how Google Search works (URL discovery) – Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/how-search-works)
- [Make your links crawlable – Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/links-crawlable)
- [SEO Starter Guide – Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/seo-starter-guide)
- [Homepage SEO – Yoast](https://yoast.com/homepage-seo/)

---

Last updated: October 7, 2026
URL: https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/homepage/