What Is A Homepage?

Date First Published: 31st August 2022

Topic: Web Design & Development

Subtopic: Web Development

Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty Level: 3/10

Learn more about what a homepage is in this article.

A homepage, also known as a main page, welcome page, landing page, or front page is the main page of a website that users see when they first visit it or type a URL into their web browser. Most often, the homepage only contains the domain name, such as 'google.com'. The file 'index.html' is the default filename for the homepage, although it can also be 'index.htm' or 'index.php' or customised on web servers that run Apache and IIS.

Since the homepage is always located at the root of the domain name or subdomain name, there is no need to include the filename in the home page URL. Most website owners set up 301 redirects to redirect traffic with the filename to the version without it to avoid duplicate content issues. Websites can only have one homepage.

A homepage can also refer to a browser homepage, which is the first page that users see when they load their web browser. It can be set to display a certain page or a search engine, such as Google. This allows people to quickly access what interests them. This may also be known as the start-up page.

What Does A Homepage Contain?

The homepage is the most important page of a website as it is the first place a visitor sees when typing a URL and one of the most frequently visited pages used to boost user engagement. Some homepages are updated on a daily basis with new information or they may be dynamic and automatically display random content so that users have something new to read every day. Homepages often contain the following:

• Hyperlinks to other pages on the website.
• Important information about the website.
• Recently updated or created pages.
• Contact information, such as company email addresses and telephone numbers.
• Navigation - Several other pages may be linked, such as categories and topics.

How To Return To The Homepage?

Usually, when users search for information on a search engine and click on a result, they are visiting a subpage of a website. The most common way of returning to the homepage of a website is by clicking on the website logo in the top-left corner, which contains a hyperlink to the homepage. If you clicked on the logo of this website, you would be taken back to the homepage. Websites often contain another link to the homepage in the footer for usability reasons as not everyone knows that clicking on the logo returns to the homepage.

Some pages may be badly designed and contain no hyperlinks to return to the homepage. In that case, users will have to manually type the URL into their web browsers. Simply typing the domain name of a website and nothing else will take them to the homepage.

In a web browser, users can return to the homepage by clicking on the home icon or closing and reopening their web browser.