What should my homepage title be?

Name the business, the main service and the main place, in that order or close to it, for example "Harbour Cycles: bicycle repair and servicing in Victoria". Google's title guide asks for descriptive, concise titles and says to avoid vague words like "Home". Its starter guide adds that a title can include the business name and the physical location. Use each word once.

Why does Google show my domain in place of my business name?

Google may show the domain when its system is less confident in the name you provided. Its site name guide says to add WebSite structured data with your preferred name on the home page, to use that name the same way across the home page, to avoid generic names, and to add an alternative name. Changes can take from a few days to a few weeks to appear.

Should my homepage use LocalBusiness or Organization structured data?

Use LocalBusiness when customers come to your place or you serve them in an area, and choose its most specific subtype, as Google's local business guide asks. Use Organization for a business with no local service, such as an online shop. LocalBusiness is a kind of Organization, so Google suggests following the Organization fields as well, such as the logo and links to official profiles.

How much text should a homepage have?

Google sets no number. Its SEO Starter Guide says there is no magical word count target, minimum or maximum. A homepage needs enough text to say what the business does, where, for whom and how to reach it, plus one line and one link for each main page. A slogan and three photos leave Google and assistants with nothing to quote.

Can I put my city in the homepage title?

Yes, when the city is where you work. Google's SEO Starter Guide says a title could include the name of your business and other important information like the physical location of the business. Use the one main place you serve. A title that lists ten towns reads as a list of keywords, which Google's title guide asks owners to avoid.

How big should my logo file be for Google and Apple?

For Google, the logo in Organization structured data must be at least 112 by 112 pixels and should look right on a white background. For Apple Business, the brand logo must be square, at least 1024 by 1024 pixels, in HEIF, JPEG, PNG or SVG. A square master file of 1024 pixels or more serves both, and Apple must approve the logo first.

Should my homepage list every service in detail?

List every service, but keep the detail on each service page. Give each service one line and a link with the service name as link text. Google's sitelinks page asks for a logical structure and links to important pages, and each service page can then answer its own question in full, which a single long homepage cannot do for every search.

Does a slider or a video at the top of the homepage hurt answers?

Google's spam policies list sliders among design elements that don't violate its policies, so a slider is allowed. The risk is that the key facts appear only inside the moving images. Microsoft's October 2025 post advises against putting key information only in images. Keep the main heading and the first sentence as text, above or beside the slider or video.

Why does the Get Found Check read my homepage?

The homepage is the page where a site states who it is, and the Check reads that page together with the domain settings and the security certificate. In under 60 seconds it returns a letter grade from A to F, findings in six areas, three to five quick fixes and a separate grade for readiness for AI assistants. It reads one page.

How do you make your homepage the answer to who you are, what you do and where you do it?

The homepage title, the main heading and the first sentence, the site name Google shows above your results, the logo and the small icon, the business structured data, and the links that lead to every other page.

See if customers can find you

Your homepage becomes the answer when its main heading and first sentence say in plain words what the business is, what it does, where and for whom, and when the page title, the site name, the logo and the business structured data (labels in the page code, also called markup, that describe the business to search engines) all repeat the same facts. The homepage answers searches for your business name and the first question of a new visitor, and Google takes the site name shown above every one of your results from it.

Which question does a homepage answer?

A homepage answers the question "who is this?". People reach it when they search for the business name, when they type the address from a van or a business card, and when another page on the web links to the business without naming a page. In each case the reader needs three facts at once: what the business does, where it works, and how to reach it. An answer engine that describes the business in one or two lines needs the same three facts.

Google treats the homepage as the source for several things that appear on every result from your site. Its guide to site names, updated on 10 December 2025, says the generation of site names is completely automated and takes into account content from a site's home page and references to it that appear on the web. Its Organization guide says business details placed on the home page can influence which logo is shown in Search results and your knowledge panel, the information box about a business. So the homepage also influences the site name and the logo that appear with your other pages.

There is a practical reason too. The free Get Found Check reads one page, and that page is the homepage, together with the domain settings and the security certificate. It returns a letter grade from A to F with a score out of 100 in under 60 seconds, so an owner can see in one minute what the homepage tells a machine about the business.

What should the homepage title say?

The page title is the title written in the page code, and Google often uses it as the title link, the blue clickable line in results. Google's title guide, updated on 10 December 2025, gives two rules that apply to homepages in particular. The first: avoid vague descriptors like "Home" for your home page. The second: the home page is a reasonable place to include some additional information about your site, with the example "ExampleSocialSite, a place for people to meet and mingle". Google's SEO Starter Guide adds that a title can include the business name and the physical location of the business.

Put together, a good homepage title names the business, the main service and the main place. For a bicycle repair shop in Victoria, let's say, "Harbour Cycles: bicycle repair and servicing in Victoria" says all three. Avoid repeating words; Google's title guide calls a title like "Foobar, foo bar, foobars, foo bars" keyword stuffing, meaning the same words repeated many times, and says it can make results look spammy. On the other pages, Google suggests putting just the site name at the beginning or end of each title, separated by a hyphen, a colon or a pipe.

What should the main heading and the first sentence say?

The main heading is the largest title on the page, and Google reads it when it writes the title link. Google's title guide says to make the main title distinctive, for example by putting the title text in the first visible main heading of the page, and warns that when several headings look equally large, Google may use the first heading as the text for the title link. When a homepage opens with a slogan in large letters, that slogan may become the text Google picks.

Write the main heading as a short statement of what you do and where, and let the sentence under it give the rest: who you serve, since when, and the one fact that makes you the right choice. For our example shop: "Bicycle repair and servicing in Victoria" as the heading, then "Harbour Cycles has repaired road, city and electric bikes for Victoria riders since 2011, with most repairs ready the same day." That sentence can be quoted alone in a result or read aloud by an assistant, and it still makes sense. The example is an illustration; write the facts that are true for your business, and use only numbers you can prove.

Microsoft gives the same advice for Bing and Copilot. Its post of 8 October 2025 on the Microsoft Advertising blog says the main heading should match or closely reflect the page title, and that consistent alignment between title, main heading and description helps AI systems understand the page.

What does a homepage outline look like before and after?

The table shows the top of a small business homepage before and after a rewrite, part by part, so that each part answers a question. The business is invented for the example.

Homepage outline before and after: written by Licheo on 17 October 2026 as an illustration. The business and its facts are invented.
Part of the page	Before	After
Page title	Home	Harbour Cycles: bicycle repair and servicing in Victoria
Main heading	Ride with passion	Bicycle repair and servicing in Victoria
First sentence	Welcome to our website!	Harbour Cycles has repaired road, city and electric bikes for Victoria riders since 2011, with most repairs ready the same day.
Contact details	In an image in the footer	Address, phone and hours as text, the same as on the Business Profile
Links to services	One menu item, "Services"	One link to each service page, with the service name as link text
Structured data	None	WebSite with the site name; LocalBusiness subtype with name, address, phone and logo

How does Google choose the site name shown above your results?

The site name is the name of the whole site that Google prints above each result, separate from the title of each page. Google's site name guide says the system considers WebSite structured data, the page title, the headings and other text on the home page, and that WebSite structured data is most important, if you want to specify a preference. The WebSite markup must sit on the home page, and Google supports one site name per site; a section of a site, such as example.com/news, cannot have its own.

Two rules decide whether Google accepts your choice. The name should be the one people use: Google's guide asks for a concise, commonly-recognized name, and it warns that a generic name like "Best Dentists In Iowa" is unlikely to be selected by our system as a site name, unless people know it as a brand. And the name must be used the same way across the homepage. If people know the business by a shorter name or initials, add it as an alternative name in the markup, which Google says allows it to consider other options. When Google is less sure of a name, its guide says, it may show the domain instead, and changes can take a few days to a few weeks to appear.

Which structured data belongs on the homepage?

Three types do the work on a small business homepage. WebSite markup carries the site name and needs only two properties, the name and the address of the home page. Organization markup carries the business details; Google's Organization guide says there are no required properties and suggests focusing on the name, an indication of real-world presence such as an address or telephone, and online presence such as the website address or the logo. It also asks that the name in this markup be the same name used for the site name.

A business that serves customers at a place, or in an area, should use LocalBusiness, which is a more specific kind of Organization. Google's local business guide, updated on 8 September 2026, says to use the most specific LocalBusiness sub-type possible, such as Restaurant or DaySpa, lists the name and the address as required, and asks for the phone number with the country code and area code. It also says the markup can sit on any page, though it may make more sense to put it on a page that contains information about your business, which on a small site can be the homepage. Our guide to structured data explains the types in general, and our guide to knowledge panels explains how these details connect to the information box.

WebSite: name and home page address, on the home page only.
Organization or the most specific LocalBusiness subtype: name, address, phone with country code, website, logo, links to official profiles.
One block of each type; Google's site name guide asks you to avoid a second WebSite block on the home page if you can.
Every value in the code must also appear on the page, with the same spelling.

Which logo and small icon sizes do Google and Apple ask for?

Two images from the homepage can appear in search results and assistants. The favicon is the small square icon that Google can show next to your site name in results. The logo is the larger image that Google can show in the knowledge panel and that Apple shows on the business's place card, the panel with name, hours and phone number in Apple Maps. Each company states its own sizes, and the table gathers them from the official pages.

Google's favicon guide adds that it supports one favicon per site, defined by the host name, that the favicon address must be stable, and that processing can take from several days to several weeks. Apple's guide says a new brand name and logo need Apple's approval, which can take up to five business days, and that the brand needs a website that uses https. A favicon, Google says, isn't guaranteed to appear in Google Search results, even if all guidelines are met.

Image sizes for the homepage logo and icon. Sources: Google Search Central favicon guide (updated 2026-08-28) and Organization guide (updated 2026-09-08); Apple Support, Brand identity attributes in Apple Business (published 2026-04-14). Accessed 16 and 17 October 2026.
Image	Who uses it	Size and shape	File types
Favicon	Google Search results, next to the site name	Square, at least 8 x 8 pixels; Google recommends larger than 48 x 48	BMP, GIF, ICO, PNG, JPEG, PPM, TIFF
Logo in Organization markup	Google Search results and knowledge panel	At least 112 x 112 pixels; it must look right on a white background	Any format Google Images supports
Brand logo in Apple Business	Apple Maps, Apple Wallet, Siri	Square (1:1), from 1024 x 1024 to 4864 x 4864 pixels	HEIF, JPEG, PNG, SVG

What should the homepage description tag say?

The description tag is a short summary in the page code that Google sometimes shows under the title in place of text from the page. Google's snippet guide, updated on 20 April 2026, says to use site-level descriptions on the main home page and page-level descriptions everywhere else. Its example of a better description for a sewing shop reads: "Get everything you need to sew your next garment. Open Monday-Friday 8-5pm, located in the Fashion District." In two sentences it says what the shop sells, when it is open and where it is.

Write the homepage description in the same way: what you offer, where, and one practical detail such as hours or the area you cover. Google's guide warns that descriptions made of long strings of keywords are less likely to be displayed, and that identical descriptions on every page aren't helpful. Remember, of course, that Google chooses: it uses the description only when it describes the page better than other parts of the content.

Which links should the homepage carry?

The homepage leads readers and Google to the rest of the site, so it should link to every page that answers a main question: each service or product page, the FAQ page and the About page. Google's page on sitelinks, the extra links that can appear under a site's main result, says sitelinks are automated, and it asks for a logical site structure, links to important pages from other relevant pages, and link text that is concise and relevant to the page it points to.

For a shop, Google's guide to shop structure says that if you have a best selling product, consider linking to it from the home page, because more links to a page help Google understand its importance compared with other pages. A single menu item called "Services" tells readers little; a short section with one line and one link for each service tells readers and search engines what each page answers.

What should a homepage avoid?

Each item below comes from a Google or Microsoft source cited on this page, and each one is easy to check on your own homepage.

A page title of "Home" or "Welcome", which Google's title guide names as a vague descriptor.
A generic site name such as "Best Plumbers In Victoria", which Google says it is unlikely to select.
Several headings in the same large size, which leave Google to pick the first one as the title.
Phone number, address or hours only inside an image; Microsoft's October 2025 post advises against putting key information only in images.
Structured data with details the page does not show, which Google's guidelines do not allow.
A different business name, phone number or address from the one on your Business Profile and Apple Business listing.

Part of a larger guide

This page is one part of AEO page by page. The other parts:

Questions people ask

What should my homepage title be?: Name the business, the main service and the main place, in that order or close to it, for example "Harbour Cycles: bicycle repair and servicing in Victoria". Google's title guide asks for descriptive, concise titles and says to avoid vague words like "Home". Its starter guide adds that a title can include the business name and the physical location. Use each word once.
Why does Google show my domain in place of my business name?: Google may show the domain when its system is less confident in the name you provided. Its site name guide says to add WebSite structured data with your preferred name on the home page, to use that name the same way across the home page, to avoid generic names, and to add an alternative name. Changes can take from a few days to a few weeks to appear.
Should my homepage use LocalBusiness or Organization structured data?: Use LocalBusiness when customers come to your place or you serve them in an area, and choose its most specific subtype, as Google's local business guide asks. Use Organization for a business with no local service, such as an online shop. LocalBusiness is a kind of Organization, so Google suggests following the Organization fields as well, such as the logo and links to official profiles.
How much text should a homepage have?: Google sets no number. Its SEO Starter Guide says there is no magical word count target, minimum or maximum. A homepage needs enough text to say what the business does, where, for whom and how to reach it, plus one line and one link for each main page. A slogan and three photos leave Google and assistants with nothing to quote.
Can I put my city in the homepage title?: Yes, when the city is where you work. Google's SEO Starter Guide says a title could include the name of your business and other important information like the physical location of the business. Use the one main place you serve. A title that lists ten towns reads as a list of keywords, which Google's title guide asks owners to avoid.
How big should my logo file be for Google and Apple?: For Google, the logo in Organization structured data must be at least 112 by 112 pixels and should look right on a white background. For Apple Business, the brand logo must be square, at least 1024 by 1024 pixels, in HEIF, JPEG, PNG or SVG. A square master file of 1024 pixels or more serves both, and Apple must approve the logo first.
How long does Google take to show a new site name or favicon?: Google's site name guide says it can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks after a change for Google to find and process the page. Its favicon guide says processing can take from several days to several weeks. Both guides suggest asking Google to look at the home page again, which you do with the URL Inspection tool in Search Console, Google's free service for site owners.
Should my homepage list every service in detail?: List every service, but keep the detail on each service page. Give each service one line and a link with the service name as link text. Google's sitelinks page asks for a logical structure and links to important pages, and each service page can then answer its own question in full, which a single long homepage cannot do for every search.
Does a slider or a video at the top of the homepage hurt answers?: Google's spam policies list sliders among design elements that don't violate its policies, so a slider is allowed. The risk is that the key facts appear only inside the moving images. Microsoft's October 2025 post advises against putting key information only in images. Keep the main heading and the first sentence as text, above or beside the slider or video.
Why does the Get Found Check read my homepage?: The homepage is the page where a site states who it is, and the Check reads that page together with the domain settings and the security certificate. In under 60 seconds it returns a letter grade from A to F, findings in six areas, three to five quick fixes and a separate grade for readiness for AI assistants. It reads one page.

Sources

Provide a site name to Google Search, Google Search Central. Updated 2025-12-10, accessed 16 October 2026.
Organization (Organization) structured data, Google Search Central. Updated 2026-09-08, accessed 16 October 2026.
Influencing your title links in search results, Google Search Central. Updated 2025-12-10, accessed 16 October 2026.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Starter Guide, Google Search Central. Updated 2025-12-10, accessed 16 October 2026.
Local business (LocalBusiness) structured data, Google Search Central. Updated 2026-09-08, accessed 16 October 2026.
Define a favicon to show in search results, Google Search Central. Updated 2026-08-28, accessed 16 October 2026.
Brand identity attributes in Apple Business, Apple Support. Published 2026-04-14, accessed 17 October 2026.
Control your snippets in search results, Google Search Central. Updated 2026-04-20, accessed 16 October 2026.
Sitelinks, Google Search Central. Updated 2025-12-10, accessed 17 October 2026.
Help Google understand your ecommerce website structure, Google Search Central. Updated 2025-12-10, accessed 17 October 2026.
Optimizing Your Content for Inclusion in AI Search Answers, Microsoft Advertising blog (Krishna Madhavan, Microsoft Bing). Posted 8 October 2025, accessed 17 October 2026.
General structured data guidelines, Google Search Central. Updated 2026-07-10, accessed 16 October 2026.
Spam policies for Google web search, Google Search Central. Updated 2026-08-28, accessed 16 October 2026.

See what your homepage tells Google

The free Get Found Check reads your homepage, your domain settings and your security certificate, and returns a letter grade from A to F, findings in six areas and three to five quick fixes in under 60 seconds. If you want the homepage rewritten and its structured data added for you, contact us for pricing.

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