No – don’t expect everyone to see your front door homepage first (if at all).
Search engines index all your pages independently, which means that if a keyword entered by a user matches to one of your sub-pages they will go directly to that page. This should be a good thing as your sub-page should provide a quicker pathway to conversion (visitor’s goal fulfilled).
As links from sites, pages, blog articles and social media shares are very dynamic you can’t completely control where your site visitors will first enter your website. This makes it crucial that you have a well planned site with efficient navigation and well thought-out elements that move visitors towards your goal.
Regardless of what you think about search engines, the reality is that you have to understand and know how to take advantage of the results of their algorithms. This changes from time to time so seek help from an SEO specialist if you think you need to (and you probably do).
To make sure all your pages, not just your homepage are findable make sure the metadata includes:
- Site name and tagline.
- What the page is about (should be unique for each page).
- Headings (especially Heading 1) as the search engines take particular notice.
- All images with alternative text (alt text).
- Content includes keywords and keyword phrases.
This will ensure your site visitor is not surprised by what they see when landing on your page and more likely to either purchase from you now or return again when they are ready to follow through.
