I thought I would expand a little about my last poll, Logo Link. The question was “Do you expect the logo of a website to link to the home page?”  The reason I thought I would ask this question is because I think there is some confusion going on about linking to the home page on the home page. There are some very popular usability experts out their saying you should not link to the home page from the home page. I agree. I believe there are some exceptions though.

Some Exceptions

I say there are some exceptions very loosely. The reality is, many sites qualify as the exception. Is your site is dynamic, changing either automatically by grabbing a feed or a database query? If this is the case, content could change at any given moment. Users know this, and often want to refresh the content. So should their be a link to a home page on the home page? Absolutely. You should be smart about how you do it though. Here is an example:

If you check out this funny video site, you can see a great example. Their site is dynamic, meaning there could be new information posted at any given moment, so a user could want to refresh it by using the home page link. The reason I say this is a great example is because they have done something to the menu that makes it clear you are on the home page. The button “Home” is a different color than the rest of the menu buttons. That way you know you are there (on the home page). If you look at a different page, like their most popular page Girls Gallery, the menu reflects that you are on the gallery page, and not the home page. Basically, it’s OK to link to the home page from the home page, if it’s clear you are on the home page. Home page, home page, home page!

Making The Logo Work

So what is up with the logo? Your logo needs to be put to work. Besides saying who you are, it is a recognized symbol for “Take me to your home page.” If you look at the poll results for, Do you expect the logo of a website to link to the home page, already 90%+ voters have said yes. Visitors expect this for most sites, and your sites design should consider this. Should it link to the home page on the home page? Yes. Even if your site is just a static site, users want reassurance that they are there. All the visual clues could have already been there, but visitors click sometimes just to click. Give them the satisfaction, and let them know they are where they want to be. Not having it link to the home page, even if they are already there could create some unnecessary anxiety.

When Do You Not Link

So after reading my example of how and why you can, you might be thinking when shouldn’t you. You shouldn’t link to the home page on the home page if the link would not give a visual clue. The most common scenario would be simply a non-menu text link. I’m hoping you are not one of these webmasters, but way to often I find links in content leading to the home page on the home page. I can only guess the reasoning for this is because they are trying to optimize for search engines, but I don’t really even see the benefit in that either. It can create confusion for the visitor, and then truly generates a wasted click by the user. Linking is this fashion additionally becomes irritating to the user, and may even make your site appear as spammy.

Every site is different, so as a general rule just try to make it clear to a visitor where they are at, and try not to confuse them by linking to a place they already are.