Homepage optimization strategies: Best practices and examples for modern websites

According to Nielsen, users spend an average of 10–20 seconds evaluating a homepage before deciding whether to stay. A compelling homepage provides additional benefits, such as increasing organic traffic through an SEO boost. 

However, crafting an engaging homepage requires distilling complex information (like your value proposition) into digestible pieces for different audience segments. The key to success lies in continuously experimenting with and iterating on the key elements of your homepage. 

In this post, we’ll break down the key components of an engaging homepage and how to optimize each one to turn visitors into buyers. 

What makes a good homepage experience? 

A good homepage design tells visitors it's worth their time to explore your website by providing a comprehensive yet focused view of your business. Think of your homepage as a strategic gateway — not a complete product manual (that’s what product pages are for) or an exhaustive FAQ (leave that for FAQ or support pages). Instead, its goal is to build trust with users and confidently guide them to their next step.

To accomplish this goal, businesses should pay attention to the following principles across their homepage: 

• Attractive, eye-catching visuals
• Clear messaging
• Powerful social proof 
• Effortless user experience
• Search and AI visibility
• Personalization based on user segments

Let’s break down each of these elements. 

Attractive, eye-catching visuals

Appealing visuals grab a user’s attention and clearly show, rather than tell, your brand’s value proposition. Quality visuals create positive brand associations and encourage users to spend more time on your homepage.

Businesses have many options when choosing which visuals to add to their homepage, including lifestyle photography, background videos, animation, and high-quality product photos. The right choice depends on your brand, product, and audience. Consider these tips when selecting your homepage’s visuals:

• Align images with the brand color palette: Your brand's color palette helps evoke the emotions you want your audience to feel when they interact with your brand. Verify that your visuals align with it to maintain consistency.
• Add compelling imagery above the fold: The hero section is the first section users see, so place your strongest visuals there. 
• Use a carousel for related visuals: Use components like image carousels to display product screenshots, resources, or other features. 
• Optimize video performance: Large videos can slow down sites, increase bounce rates, and affect SEO performance. Before adding a video, ask whether it significantly improves the user experience, creates performance bottlenecks (using tools like Google Lighthouse), and meets key accessibility requirements, such as playback controls.
• Experiment continuously: Try different media types, formats, and sizes to see what works best for showcasing your value proposition. 

Ultimately, the right visual strategy fit will depend on the brand, product, and audience. For example, Hillbrook, a real estate company in New Zealand, used evocative, beautiful photography to showcase its value proposition of “authentic luxurious real estate.”

Meanwhile, Duckie, an AI support assistant for technical users, uses animation to show how its product works. This helps users easily understand how the product might integrate with their workflow.

Clear messaging

Given the limited time to capture a user’s attention, refining messaging and copy is a significant opportunity for homepage optimization. Messaging is how you speak about your brand; copy is how that messaging translates to actual words on the page. Let’s go over how you can bring this to life in the headline and body copy: 

Headline

The headline encapsulates the business's mission and philosophy in a few impactful words. Think of it as a quick sales pitch for your business — it should make sense to all potential target users (regardless of their level of awareness), capture your unique voice, and avoid overly “salesy” language that might alienate visitors. 

Ask yourself these questions when crafting your headline:

• What’s the brand’s value proposition? What problem are you solving for your customers, and why does that matter to them? 
• What do you want visitors to feel when they read your headline?
• What’s the most important thing your audience needs to know when they learn about your product? What’s the “hook” that gets them excited about your business?

Consider GoPidge, a platform that drives growth for B2B platforms. Since GoPidge’s solution provides value to multiple aspects of a customer’s business, their headline changes the last word in the headline to highlight the breadth of use cases. Specifically, they mention how their product can accelerate a platform’s partnerships, financing, market intelligence, talent acquisition, business growth, and lead generation.

On the other hand, Hello Patient, a healthcare AI assistant, uses the headline to speak directly to its target audience, with a straightforward value prop (i.e., team efficiency).

Body copy

Your homepage’s body copy translates a brand's message into compelling words that work alongside your visuals and headline to tell your product's story. Think of it as the supporting actor to your visual elements — adding depth and detail without stealing the show.

When writing body copy, keep it as tight as possible. Attention spans are limited, so communicating concisely is key to getting your message across without losing your audience. 

Here are some other tips when refining your homepage’s body copy: 

• Align copy with brand voice: Your brand voice is your brand’s personality expressed through words, tone, and other design decisions. Double-check that your copy’s tone aligns with the brand voice to reinforce your brand's personality across your website. 
• Focus on action-oriented statements: Write clear, impactful statements that move visitors toward action, such as “Hire top talent in half the time.”   
• Prioritize clarity over cleverness:  Remove any industry jargon or insider language that might prevent first-time visitors from quickly understanding what you do. 

Let’s look at an example: Faye, a platform connecting families with executive assistants (dubbed “Family Advisors”), is a concept most visitors haven't encountered before. To educate users, they break down the process into three simple steps, each with a bold headline that captures the key point. Even without reading the details, visitors can quickly grasp how the service works by scanning the headlines.

Powerful social proof

Users need evidence that your product delivers on its promises. This is especially true for digital products, as users can only discover their value after trying them. Additionally, strong social proof builds brand trust and can boost your SEO ranking to drive more organic traffic. 

Here are five ways businesses can add social proof to their homepage: 

• Customer logos: Showcasing well-known customers builds trust with potential visitors and validates your product's value (but always ask for permission before using a customer’s logo!)
• Testimonials: Solicit feedback or quotes that highlight successful customer experiences. Then, expand into detailed case studies that tell the full story. 
• Reviews: You can collect them by adding functionality to your website so users can leave reviews, or by importing them from platforms like Google, TrustRadius, and G2.
• Awards: Showcase awards, like Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, to boost brand and product credibility.
• Certifications: Add any relevant certifications that showcase your product’s capabilities and regulatory compliance, especially relevant for healthcare or financial services businesses. 

If you aren’t sure which type of social proof to display, test different imagery, quotes, data, or statistics to see what drives engagement. 

Effortless user experience

Your homepage's user experience (UX) connects all your visuals, messaging, and social proof. Without a good UX, these elements fall flat — or worse, actively frustrate visitors. Let’s break down the key components of a compelling homepage user experience: 

Page layout

A good homepage layout organizes all page elements in a consistent, coherent manner. Many websites separate their page into distinct sections that communicate different information. For example, one section might focus on how a product works, whereas another might focus on social proof. 

Optimize your homepage layout by considering these tips:

• Plan your layout: Before starting any designs, outline the sections your homepage needs — like a hero area, product highlights, testimonials, and a clear call-to-action (CTA).‍
• Create a clear visual hierarchy: Use color, size, and whitespace to clarify the homepage's visual hierarchy, helping users find the most relevant section for their query. For example, Heva Health uses bold headlines and animations to get users’ attention (while leaving the details for the supporting copy), allowing visitors to absorb information at their own pace.

• Put your CTA front and center: Position your primary CTA above the fold. Make sure the button tells visitors what will happen when they click (e.g., "Start Free Trial" or "View Demo”).
• Experiment with content cutoffs: When visitors see partially revealed content, their curiosity drives them to scroll down and discover more, driving engagement. Take Faye: the homepage has a content cutoff strategy on desktop to encourage users to scroll down and see all the projects they could accomplish by hiring a Faye family advisor.