Content needs to flow at just the right place to draw your users in. The different types of content on a site all have ideal flow rates, some quicker than others. These need to be carefully controlled within the text in order to transmit information to the site’s users. Like many attempts at control on the internet, it’s easily possible to go too far and achieve the opposite outcome to the one for which you were aiming.

The attention of your users flows over your site like water. In some areas, you want to direct this flow to pass through content quickly but solidly, such as with the content of your home page. In other areas, like your product pages, you want the flow to be more sedate and meandering. At no point on your website do you want the flow to stop.

There are various techniques you can use to direct the flow of your users’ attention. On your home page, for example, users move fluidly through various little chutes you set up for them, like a fast-flowing fountain. The users flow onto the page from the main pipe of the search engines and are split up with the use of short paragraphs. For example, a brief selling point, an introduction to the business and then a piece of news. These all swiftly grab attention and direct the user through to the next part of the site that is most relevant to them.

A site’s efforts to direct the flow of users on a home page can easily go wrong. It can be tempting to try to provide paths to all parts of your site, essentially setting up hundreds of chutes for only a trickle of water. A home page with links to every page can be confusing to a user, as can one with only one or two links.

This is where SEO techniques come in handy from a user perspective. Your search engine optimisation can be used to properly direct this first fast flow of users. Keywords and links set up at the correct points on your page will both slow down the flow and section off user groups to the right pages. Good SEO also prevents a home page from becoming overcrowded, as pages with an inordinate amount of links don’t work well from a search engine point of view. Paying attention to your SEO can help you keep the flow of your site’s users on the right paths. You can talk to our experts at SEO Consult about home page construction.

Controlling the flow of users on your home page is important. Too many diversions and too little information can create too much of a splash, sending users right back to the SERPs. Too few diversions, like a home page that is simply a blank slab and the user flows right off without seeing your other pages. The flow must be carefully controlled, users funnelled toward your main pages with links and keywords in the right places to slow them down.

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