SEO: Single page or multiple page web design?

[never_summer]

Hi

I'm looking at getting a site designed and I like the look of a single page website - but in terms of SEO am I going to be greatly at a disadvantage by just relying on the 1 page and not allowing myself to have multiple pages to link people out too?

Your thoughts please!

 

[fisicx]

Yes, you will greatly disadvantage yourself.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

if you are looking to drive traffic from search engines then a one page site will put you at a disadvantage.,

What type of business is it?

 

[Steve Alphabet]

I switched to a single page layout and yes, it is a nightmare for SEO. I got a developer to modify it so I have different URLs, but the underlying code is just too bloated for Google. They do look great though...

 

[fisicx]

They do look great though...

Depends on your personal preferences. I think they look awful

 

[OldWelshGuy]

I have loads of single page websites and they do really well. but it is horses for courses.

 

[neils3]

Agree with people here, if you're looking for SEO traffic then thin websites have a bad reputation with Google.

 

[Wellington-Duarte]

Depends. Google sometimes doesn't calculate like this. I would say that if is possible create a blog and in your header put the main keyords, do the same with every blog post.

 

[fisicx]

Yes, but then it won't be a one page site.

 

[PugDigitalUK]

You would certainly be limiting your website in terms of SEO.

 

[69thelememt]

I cant think of a single thing that would demand a single page website. even if i was talking about a brick, i think reader might be interest in where the brick came from, why they need the brick, contact my about the brick, and a brick blog, so thats 5 pages........

A lot of softwares, specially SEO softs can have single page sales video pages, really depends on where you gauge your traffic from, if its search engines your hitting up, yes more pages are needed

you'll probably find that you'll struggle to fit all info on one page anyway and will need seperation

 

[StevePoster]

Relying on just one page is like limiting your website design's influence to the target audience so its better to have multiple pages for providing specific important and interesting details from the site.

 

[HazelC]

Agreed with nearly all above - one page doesn't help

 

[Mike Marquardt]

From my experience, you will want to at least have the basic pages which include: Home, about, contact, blog or news, legal pages such as disclaimer or TOS.... Now, if you only offer on set of specialized products or services such as plumbing, you can get away with this site setup as described above as long as you have your contact info right there.

If you offer multiple services, you can greatly benefit by having a page about each. For example, a roofer could have a page about commercial roofing, residential roofing, etc. This is also true if you are targeting multiple cities / areas. Having one page for each target area will greatly benefit you.

 

[uk22]

From my experience, you will want to at least have the basic pages which include: Home, about, contact, blog or news, legal pages such as disclaimer or TOS.... Now, if you only offer on set of specialized products or services such as plumbing, you can get away with this site setup as described above as long as you have your contact info right there.

If you offer multiple services, you can greatly benefit by having a page about each. For example, a roofer could have a page about commercial roofing, residential roofing, etc. This is also true if you are targeting multiple cities / areas. Having one page for each target area will greatly benefit you.

Totally Agree

 

[RichardfromOquile]

Single page sites can rank well but they are at a disadvantage against a multi-page site. There is also the issue that different rules(in terms of SEO) apply to single pages sites. For example, it is typically advised that a page contains:

• A page title
• A page header (H1)
• Multiple smaller headers (H2s)

On a single page site there should be multiple H1s, for each of the titles/sections.

Then there is the issue of links. On a multipage site a link might be exampleDOTcom/shoes whereas on a single page site the same link would be exampleDOTcom#shoes (created by using anchors). Many (most?all?) social networking site 'strip' (remove) the anchors from links which means you will only ever get links to the same location. In terms of SEO it is advantageous to have links to varying destinations, even if they are anchored.

A lot is possible with single page sites but there is a lot less knowledge of how to correctly create them around.
The main advice I would give is that when choosing whoever creates the website for you ask them to provide an example of previous single page sites they have made and do your own checks on how they rank.

 

[Alby10]

Since Google algo changes, thin sites, as they are sometimes called, such as single page, can be at a distinct disadvantage.