Homepage Carousels: Yes or No?

A quick tour around the web is enough to notice that many websites use a carousel – or image slider – as the main element on their homepage. It’s a widely adopted design solution but is heavily criticized by UX designers and SEO experts who consider sliders to be a hindrance for search engine ranking and user navigation.

If you’re considering adding a carousel to your homepage, you should take a look at this article to discover the joys and pains of this solution.

What are Sliders or Carousels?

A carousel is a presentation within a website, typically placed on the homepage. It consists of images that slide to highlight various elements such as company strengths, products, special offers, and more.

This inherent possibility has led to the widespread use of sliders on many websites.
In theory, it’s a valid reasoning: we can showcase different aspects of our company without creating an excessively long homepage.

However, in practice, there are some disadvantages.

Sliders exist only because web designers love them. And because they simplify the lives of the web team: they can give each department or product division a spot on the homepage. And they don’t have to make choices.

But it’s not your job to make your colleagues happy. Your job is to make your visitors happy. And to sell. And that’s the biggest problem with carousels: they don’t convert.

Karl Gilis, owner of AGConsult and renowned conversion expert.

SEO and sliders

From an SEO perspective, if not used correctly, sliders can be counterproductive.

Carousels are often placed at the top of the page (Above the Fold), pushing all other content down. This is disadvantageous for ranking, as Google already explained in 2012.

Moreover, they often lead to site loading slowdowns due to JavaScript files and codes or simply due to the weight of the images being loaded.
Site loading speed is crucial for SEO and User Experience, especially on mobile where image sliders often don’t work properly.

There are also disadvantages in terms of conversion rate: in this regard, research shows that only 1% of people actually click on a slider (and almost always only on the first slide).

If the primary purpose of the slider is to showcase the company’s strengths, unfortunately, this data confirms that it doesn’t achieve that goal.

Sliders and User Experience

SEO and navigation quality go hand in hand. Therefore, it’s not surprising that SEO-related issues are correlated with usability problems.

According to a Nielsen Group study, automatic scrolling generates a series of negative consequences on user navigation experience (and mood).

The lack of control during the transition from one image to another in sliders causes dissatisfaction and frustration among users searching for information and intent in reading.

It’s not an inclusive tool: not all people are fast readers or speak the same language in which the site is developed. Moreover, the movement of images reduces accessibility to information for users with motor disabilities who might struggle to click on something that moves rapidly.

In reality, carousels confuse everyone a bit because they display more products or services that we might or might not be interested in at the same time.

People can only direct their attention to a limited number of stimuli and normally focus on aspects that can be useful for their objectives. It’s a defense mechanism of the human brain to avoid overload.

In the digital realm, this translates into a phenomenon called “banner blindness”: users tend to ignore all elements that are perceived as useless and annoying due to experience. The moving carousel reminds them of pop-ups and banner ads, making them more likely to ignore it.

Sliders: What Are the Alternatives?

The simplest solution might be not to use sliders.

Equally effective is using a single image with elements like titles, icons, and call-to-actions to explain the company’s strengths. Here’s a positive example:

Another solution could be using specific landing pages to promote specific services.

So should sliders always be avoided?

The world of the web is never black or white: there are various aspects to consider.

For example, regarding sliders, the main problem and the hardest to overcome is that they’re often used improperly because you’re not able to decide which products or services to highlight.
By focusing on the right image or message, users can also better perceive the value of the company and its business.

In any case, if you decide to use sliders on your website and homepage, pay attention to some simple considerations:

• avoid automatic scrolling between images, and if not possible, try to limit distractions by reducing transitions to a minimum and making them as smooth as possible;
• optimize image loading time using appropriate dimensions and consider alternative solutions for mobile;
• don’t use more than three slides and put the most important element in the first one.

In conclusion, every website is different and responds to various business needs.
If we design a website and a homepage focusing on users and their needs, all different elements, including carousels, if used carefully, can be implemented to create an engaging and functional browsing experience.