AIOSEO Documentation

Documentation, Reference Materials, and Tutorials for AIOSEO

Setting the SEO for Your Home Page

Are you looking to set the SEO for the homepage of your site?

If you are, then this article will help you with easy-to-follow steps for the following:

In This Article

Tutorial Video

Checking Your Home Page Display Settings

Before we begin, you’ll need to know if your homepage is set to display your latest posts or a static page.

You can check this by going to Settings » Reading on your site and checking the Your homepage displays setting.

Reading Settings in WordPress

Setting the SEO When Your Homepage Displays Your Latest Posts

To set the SEO when your homepage displays your latest posts, click on Search Appearance in the All in One SEO menu.

Search Appearance in the All in One SEO menu

You should see the Home Page Settings section where you’ll see the Preview, Home Title, and Meta Description.

Home Page Settings in All in One SEO

The Preview shows how your homepage may look in search results based on the Home Title and Meta Description you set.

Preview of home page SEO

To set the SEO title for your homepage, click on one of our smart tags shown above the Home Title field.

Adding a smart tag to the Home Title field

You can also type the hash character ( # ) in the field to display a list of available tags you can choose from.

Typing the hash symbol displays a list of available tags to choose from

You can also enter text in the Home Title field or combine text with the smart tags and there’s an emoji picker where you can add an emoji.

Now we can set the SEO description for your homepage.

The Meta Description field works in the same way as the Home Title field. You can select from one of the smart tags displayed above the field, or type the hash character ( # ) in the field to display a list of available tags you can choose from.

Meta Description field in Home Page Settings

You can also enter text in the field or combine text with smart tags and there’s an emoji picker where you can add an emoji.

If you have enabled Meta Keywords for the Russian search engine Yandex, you’ll see a Keywords field where you can enter your meta keywords.

Adding a meta keyword in the Keywords field

That’s all! You’ve now set the SEO meta for your homepage.

Setting the SEO When Your Homepage Displays a Static Page

To set the SEO when your homepage displays a static page, edit your home page and scroll down to the AIOSEO Settings section.

Here you’ll see the SERP Preview, Page Title and Meta Description.

General SEO settings on the Edit Page screen

The SERP Preview shows how your homepage may look in search results based on the Page Title and Meta Description you set. There are icons in the top right corner to view how the search results may look on desktop or mobile.

SERP Preview showing the desktop and mobile icons

To set the SEO title for your homepage, click on one of our smart tags shown above the Page Title field.

Adding a smart tag to the Page Title field

You can also type the hash character ( # ) in the field to display a list of available tags you can choose from.

Typing the hash symbol displays a list of available tags to choose from

You can also enter text in the Page Title field or combine text with the smart tags and there’s an emoji picker where you can add an emoji.

Now we can set the SEO description for your homepage.

The Meta Description field works in the same way as the Page Title field. You can select from one of the smart tags displayed above the field, or type the hash character ( # ) in the field to display a list of available tags you can choose from.

Meta Description field on Edit Page screen

You can also enter text in the field or combine text with smart tags and there’s an emoji picker where you can add an emoji.

If you have enabled Meta Keywords for the Russian search engine Yandex, click on the Advanced tab and you’ll see a Keywords field where you can enter your meta keywords.

Keywords field on the Edit Page screen

That’s all! You’ve now set the SEO meta for your homepage.

Home Page Settings in All in One SEO

Home Title

The Home Title is the SEO Title for the home page on your site.  This title will appear in the top of the browser and in the source of your home page between the <title> tags.  This is the title that search engines will display in their search results as the link to your site ,so it's important to keep this simple (60 characters or less) and relevant.

Whatever you enter in this field is output directly to the source code of your home page.  It is used regardless of whether you are displaying the latest blog posts on your home page or have a static home page (controlled under Settings » Reading in the main WordPress menu).

Home Description

The Home Description is the Meta Description for the home page on your site.  This is the description that the search engines will display in their search results, it will show beneath the title.  Keep the description to less than 160 characters, and ensure it is relevant (real sentences, not crazy keyword combinations).

The Meta Description is a suggestion, some search engines such as Google will sometimes create their own description and display that in the search results instead of your Meta Description.  Read our documentation on Meta Descriptions for more information.

Whatever you enter in this field is output directly to the source code of your home page.  It is used regardless of whether you are displaying the latest blog posts on your home page or have a static home page (controlled under Settings » Reading in the main WordPress menu).

In the screenshot below you can see how the Home Title and Home Description for our site shows up in Google search results based on what we entered in the All in One SEO settings.
Search Result for All in One SEO

Home Keywords

Meta Keywords hold little or no value in today's SEO.  This post from Matt Cutts at Google explains why they no longer value them.  However, you may feel differently and wish to use them.

If you want to enable Keywords, then set Use Keywords to Enabled.

It is tempting to go overboard and add hundreds of possible word combinations, but try to keep the number of keywords you use to a reasonable level.  Use the most important words in regards to your site and area of expertise.

Remember, Meta Data serves two purposes:

  • It tells search engines what your site is about
  • It shows up in search results, which tells people what your site is about

Use Static Front Page Instead

When it comes to setting the SEO Title, Description and Keywords, All in One SEO has always treated the homepage of a site differently.  This is because WordPress sites can be set up with either a static front page or a dynamic page that displays your latest posts (controlled under Settings » Reading in the main WordPress menu).

If your site is set up to display your latest posts on your homepage, you will set your SEO in the Home Page Settings section in All in One SEO.

However, if your site is set up to have  a static Home page, then we recommend you enable the Use Static Front Page Instead setting and set your SEO on your static Home page.

If you enable this option, the Home Title, Home Description and Home Keywords fields will be hidden.

Useful Links:

  1. Google Webmaster Central Blog - Matt Cutts explains how Google treats keywords
  2. All in One SEO Pack documentation on Meta Descriptions