How often should you update your homepage?

Key takeaways

How often to update a homepage depends on the part: check facts like reviews, availability and offers monthly; change seasonal messages and proof a few times a year; and leave the structure alone unless data shows a problem. Constant tinkering makes results impossible to read, but a homepage untouched for years quietly goes stale.

• Monthly: review count, availability, offers, broken links.
• Seasonally: lead service, hero image, featured work.
• Yearly: numbers, accreditations, prices and copy review.
• Structure: only change when data shows a problem.

Why does homepage freshness matter?

Freshness matters because visitors notice signs of neglect: an offer that ended in March, a review count from two years ago, a copyright year that never changes. They read these as a sign the business may be slow or struggling. Fresh, specific details signal that someone is paying attention.

• Why your homepage is not converting visitors into customers
• Out of date website content: what to check and fix

What should you check every month?

Spend 15 minutes a month checking things that change often: review score and count, availability or lead time, any offers, opening hours, the phone and form routes, and links from the homepage. Fix anything wrong the same day.

• Show your availability on the homepage, honestly
• The trust bar under your hero: what goes in it
• A homepage dashboard: five numbers to check each month

What should change with the seasons?

Change what you lead with when your buyers' needs change: the featured service, the hero image, the case study and any seasonal offer. Plan these changes in your calendar so they happen on time and get reversed when the season ends.

• Offers and seasonal messages on your homepage
• Case study teasers that pull visitors deeper

What should you leave alone?

Leave the structure, the main message and the primary action alone unless data shows a problem. Changing them every month makes it impossible to know what works, especially with low traffic. When you do change them, change one thing and log it.

• Change one thing at a time: a homepage change log
• How long until homepage changes show results?

Does updating the homepage help SEO?

Changing words for the sake of it does not help rankings. Keeping information accurate, useful and current does help visitors, which is what Google's guidance on helpful content focuses on. Update for people, not for an imagined freshness score.

• Homepage SEO vs conversion: write for both

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see: a homepage still advertising last year's Christmas opening hours in February, alongside 'Over 50 five-star reviews' when the real figure is 240. A monthly 15-minute check with one named owner fixes both kinds of drift.

• See client work
• Website Design & Development for UK businesses

Homepage update checklist

• Name one person responsible for homepage checks.
• Check facts and routes monthly in 15 minutes.
• Plan seasonal changes in the calendar.
• Review numbers, badges and copy once a year.
• Change structure only when data shows a problem.
• Log every change with a date.

• One button or two in your homepage hero?
• Who should be responsible for your homepage?

Next step

Put a recurring 15-minute 'homepage check' in someone's diary for the first working day of each month.