For decades, the homepage has been treated as the crown jewel of any website. It’s often the first thing a company invests in, the “front door” of the digital experience. But here’s the reality: in today’s digital landscape, most visitors aren’t coming through your homepage at all.
Instead, they’re arriving directly on landing pages. Specific, targeted pages designed to meet their intent. So, do you actually need a homepage anymore? Or is it time to rethink the traditional web design hierarchy and put landing pages first?
Why the Traditional Homepage Is Losing Relevance
The homepage was once a central hub because most visitors typed in a brand’s URL directly. Today, traffic comes from search engines, paid ads, social campaigns, newsletters, and referrals. Each of those channels leads people to a specific destination that matches their intent—not necessarily the homepage.
Consider this:
- Google search results often point to product or blog pages.
- Paid ads send users to campaign-specific landing pages.
- Social media links usually drive traffic to content or sign-up pages.
By the time someone sees your homepage, they may already know who you are. And in many cases, it’s not their first touchpoint at all.
The Power of Landing-Page-First Design
Landing pages aren’t just “extra” pages—they’re focused, high-conversion environments. A homepage tries to do everything: showcase the brand, highlight offerings, explain the value, and direct people everywhere at once. Landing pages, by contrast, do one thing really well.
Benefits of prioritizing landing-page-first design include:
- Message Match: Visitors see exactly what they expected from the ad, search, or referral.
- Higher Conversions: Focused calls-to-action (CTAs) eliminate distractions.
- Personalization: Different audiences can land on tailored experiences without needing to navigate.
- Faster Iteration: It’s easier to A/B test messaging and layout on a landing page than on a sprawling homepage.
In short: a homepage is broad, but a landing page is sharp.
Do You Still Need a Homepage?
Not necessarily, but it depends on your business.
A homepage still serves as a brand anchor:
- It’s where people who are curious about your company will go.
- It offers credibility and context (“Who are you?”).
- It provides navigation for those who want to explore more deeply.
However, if most of your traffic comes from targeted campaigns or organic search, your homepage isn’t the main driver of conversions. In that case, it’s less a sales tool and more a brand backdrop.
When Landing-Page-First Works Best
You should lean into a landing-page-first design if:
- You run ad campaigns where every click deserves a hyper-relevant destination.
- You sell a specific product or service that people are actively searching for.
- You want to test different offers, value props, or messaging at scale.
- You’re in a competitive niche where speed-to-conversion matters.
In these cases, your homepage becomes less of a starting point and more of a safety net, important to have, but not the centerpiece.
Rethinking Your Web Strategy
The truth is, you don’t need to completely abandon your homepage—but you shouldn’t treat it as the only (or even primary) conversion gateway. Instead, think of it as just one piece in a larger ecosystem of intentional entry points.
A homepage-first mindset is outdated. A landing-page-first mindset is modern, agile, and conversion-driven.
So, next time you’re planning a redesign or campaign, ask yourself:
👉 Am I building a homepage because I need one—or because I assume I should?
You may find your real digital power lies not in your homepage, but in the precision of your landing pages.
