Does having a single-page website hurt your rankings on a search engine? Today’s blog takes a look at the reasons for and against this.
In recent years, single-page websites have gained popularity, particularly for businesses that advertise a single product or event or target a specific niche. However, are single-page websites good or bad for SEO, and does a single-page site hurt your chances of ranking in search?
A single-page website may sound the same as a one-page website. However, they are, in fact, slightly different.
One-page websites are one-page – no navigational links to create the illusion that the page is changing. Examples of this could be downloading an app or eCommerce, including information on a product by using the landing page to sell and having a singular call to action.
A single-page website is a single-page application dynamically displaying content from the server in response to user interaction versus loading the page; it is, in essence, a “landing page”. There are navigation links to jump to sections down the page, making it look like the page is “changing” even though there is no actual page refresh. Examples of a single-page website could be an event (registration details and event info) or for a niche audience, where the main journey to conversion is requesting a quote.
Single-page websites can look good and seem helpful, but are they good for SEO? Some of the pros or benefits of a single-page design:
Better Mobile Experience
When Google announced they were switching to mobile-first indexing, websites that perform well on mobile were a must. An advantage of the single-page design is that the site converts much easier to mobile. Navigation is more straightforward, as some people find navigation harder on multi-page sites on a smaller device. They will load much faster than multi-page sites too.
Targeting Specific Audience
Single-page websites are ideal for targeting specific audiences and providing them with a particular user experience. It is easier to control their behaviour on your site and point them in a specific direction. All the information you want your users to access can be given to them on that one page, and in the order, you choose to suit your business needs. SEO-wise, if you only target one keyword or set of keywords, this can help you.
PageRank
Links are one of the most important search ranking factors, and if it is just a single-page website, then every link you have acquired will point to that one URL, meaning you will always have a 1:1 ratio of links to pages, which will please the search algorithms.
Now that we’ve looked at the pros and benefits, there are, of course, drawbacks to SEO for having all your information on only one page, such as:
Limited Keyword Targeting
Single-page sites are designed around one central concept, limiting your ability to rank for various keywords. If you rely on Google, for example, to get customers in, then having a multi-page site targeting multiple different keywords would be best to widen your audience reach. However, if organic SEO isn’t as important as social, email or PPC, the keyword ranking won’t be an issue.
Lack of Content Detail
Another negative of single-page sites is that content is generally less specific than those published on multi-page sites. You cannot have a separate page for each topic you want to cover as you would on a multi-page website. Instead, all your information has to fit on one page, and it is impossible to cover the same amount of information on one page as you would with multiple pages, as the single page would scroll for eternity, and no one will scroll for that long. Use HotJar to see where users stop scrolling on your website.
You would run the risk of visitors looking for detailed, relevant content, leaving disappointed (bouncing).
Minimal SEO Strategies
Specific SEO strategies and best practices aren’t available when working with a single-page site, such as content siloing and structuring your website into main areas of interest to demonstrate authority.
In Summary, single-page websites are not as good for SEO as traditional multi-page websites. But that does not mean there isn’t a time and place to use a single-page design.
When determining whether your site should be single or multi-page, you need to consider the goals for your business and what you’re trying to accomplish with your website.
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