Your Homepage Isn’t Your Only Front Door: Why Major Pages Matter More Than You Think

Marketers love their homepages. They obsess over the hero image, fine-tune the tagline, and test every pixel of the call-to-action button. But here’s the reality:

Most prospective students aren’t entering your website through your homepage.

They’re landing on a program page, a financial aid page or an athletics page—because that’s what they actually searched for.

With voice search, AI-driven results, and direct Google queries, today’s students are bypassing traditional entry points.

Why Major Pages Are the Real First Impression

Think about how a Gen Z student searches for college information. They’re not just typing in your school’s name and clicking “enter.” Instead, they’re asking:

• “Best nursing programs in [state]”

• “What can I do with a psychology degree?”

• “How much does [college name] cost?”

If your program pages aren’t optimized for these searches, students might never even see the homepage you spent months perfecting.

Worse, if they land on a major page that’s clunky or missing key information, they’ll bounce right back to Google and find another school that gives them what they need.

How to Optimize Program Pages for Gen Z

If you want to turn visitors into applicants, your major pages can’t just be basic course listings with a stock photo of smiling students. They need to function like mini landing pages, built for engagement, clarity and action.

Here’s what makes a program page actually work:

1. Clear, Scannable Content

Gen Z doesn’t read in full—they skim. If your page is a wall of text, they’re gone.

• Use short paragraphs, headers, and bullet points.

• Answer key questions immediately—what is this major? What careers does it lead to? What makes your program different?

• Opt for a "Quick Facts" section that highlights all the quick basics about the program so the important details aren’t buried in paragraphs

2. Career Outcomes Front and Center

Students aren’t picking a major just because they love the subject—they want to know what jobs they can get and how much they’ll earn.

• Feature job placement rates, salary data, and real alumni stories.

• Use charts or graphics to make career outcomes clear at a glance.

• Contact information for the director or chair of the program with a photo

3. An Easy, Obvious Next Step

While “Apply Now” or “Schedule a Visit” should always be front and center as you peruse a website, for first-time searchers, that may be too big of a leap if they're in the early stages of the search.

For this web visitor, each major page should have a simple, low-friction inquiry form that:

✔ Is pre-filled with the student’s selected major so they don’t have to search for it.

✔ Asks only three to four additional questions—such as name, email, start year and a checkbox for areas of interest.

✔ Feels like a conversation starter, not a commitment.

This makes it easy for a prospective student to express interest without pressure, allowing the admissions team to follow up with personalized next steps. And, is easily done with a copy and paste of code from your Slate instance, for example, into your website.

4. Visuals That Show, Not Just Tell

A picture of a random student in a lab coat doesn’t mean much. Show actual students in real classrooms, labs, or fieldwork settings.

• Video clips of faculty explaining the program.

• Student testimonials on why they chose the major.

• Day-in-the-life content from current students.

Think Like a Student, Not a Marketer

Most college websites are designed from the inside out—marketers focus on what the school wants to highlight, not what students actually need. The best websites flip that thinking and prioritize the user experience.

Ask yourself:

• If a student landed on this page first, would they understand what makes this program great?

• Does the page answer their biggest questions quickly?

• Is there a clear next step, or are they left wandering?

Your homepage matters—but it’s not the only page that matters.

If your major pages aren’t built to engage and convert, you’re letting prospective students slip away before they even get a chance to explore what makes your school unique.

Bottom line: Your website isn’t a linear journey. It’s a choose-your-own-adventure experience, and if your program pages aren’t ready to make a strong first impression, you’re losing students before they even get to know you.