Look at the image below and decide if you want your website's homepage to appear in search results like that, or even better, especially when people search for your website using its name.
If you want to increase the chances of your website's homepage standing out in search results as shown in the attached image, just keep reading carefully and with focus.
Overview
A website's homepage appears visually rich in search results when users enter the website's name or homepage link in Google's search box. Alongside the prominent display of the website's name at the top of the search result, a description of the website follows, along with a set of important links from the same website. This makes the search result look more appealing and professional, plus a link leading to a search page that only shows pages from that website.
How Does This Visually Rich Result Appear?
The homepage appears in a well-organized manner in search results when its structure is clear and understandable to both users and the search engine. There are no specific structured data or actions that directly cause the homepage to appear this way. It typically happens automatically for eligible websites without any intervention from the site administrator.
However, there are certain things you can do to help qualify your website to achieve this visually rich result.
What Can You Do to Increase the Chances of This Organized Result?
Here are some steps you can take to increase the chances of your homepage appearing prominently in Google search results:
- Use a clear structure for the homepage.
- Create a website description.
- Allow crawling and indexing of the homepage.
- Include the homepage link in the website name internally on key pages or articles, and externally if possible. For example, include the homepage link in places where readers are likely to find it.
- Create key pages that help users understand or use the website, such as:
- Contact Us
- Privacy Policy
- Terms of Service
- Refund Policy
- Authors
- Index
- Services
- Prominently display these key pages on the homepage and possibly on other pages (e.g., in the header or footer). Ensure these key pages are crawlable and indexed.
- Internally link key pages using optimized anchor text. For example, you can provide more information about the website or contact the site, in places where readers are likely to look for them.
- Enable crawling and indexing of website sections or the parts you want to appear.
The points you just read are essential steps to give the search engine the minimum ability to consider whether the homepage is eligible for a visually rich result.
Additionally, these steps are also important, although they might not be as valuable unless the above points are applied:
- Add structured data for the organization, including the logo.
- Add structured data for the website name.
- Add structured data for the search box within the website sections.
Besides all these points, having search queries from people using the website's name further enhances the chances of the homepage appearing as a visually rich result.
After implementing these steps, you can check your homepage using Google's URL Inspection Tool and request indexing—but avoid misusing the request indexing button—to alert the search engine that you've made changes to the homepage.
How Long Does It Take for This Feature to Appear?
There is no specific timeframe. The homepage can appear in an organized manner in search results a few days after allowing it to be crawled and indexed, especially if the website has significant traffic and people search for it using its name.
The process may take longer if the website has no visitors, if crawling and indexing were not previously allowed, or if the search engine doesn't find the site eligible. If you need specific help to improve the appearance of your homepage in search results, I'd be happy to assist you.
These are some tips and practices, written with love, to help you display your website's homepage or your clients' websites more attractively, professionally, and visually rich in search results.
