It’s difficult to deny the visual allure of the splash page. Whether it’s in Flash or another animation/motion graphics vehicle, the splash page makes a company look good. It might be thought of as a kind ‘cover’ – much like you would find on a novel or a magazine.
But how does having a splash page affect your SEO? The truth is that most of the SEO community would tell you it’s a bad idea. Often, the problem lies in the fact that a print designer has been given the job of doing the splash page – and indeed the design of the entire site; the hitch is that print designers frequently have more interest in how pretty their splash page looks, rather than how well Google can index the website.
While presentation is of course very important, as it always has been, there’s no point looking beautiful if no one can find you. A splash page is frequently bereft of any text – and of course Google’s algorithm is not interested – Google does not appreciate good print design, Google is a literary animal and needs good, relevant copy.
If you’re a very well established corporation – that has countless back links – you can afford to have a mesmerising splash page. But if you’re a small or even medium sized company, you would be well advised to have a home page with some well written content containing all your primary (and secondary) key phrases. In short, get rid of that splash page now!
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