Single Page Vs Multi-Page Sites
We are all familiar with multi-page websites. They are everywhere. Most businesses have a lot of content that they need to break up into manageable chunks, so it is important to divide them up into separate pages. Other sites have less content, so single page sites are ideal, because they can display all of the content on one page, so the user doesn’t have to flip through different pages just for a little content.
Single Page Sites
Single page sites can be fun and creative. With the influx of parallax scrolling and single page sites that use creative animation to display content, you can divide small bits of content to create a beautiful and fun site. The problem with single page sites is that if you have multiple topics to discuss, placing them all on one page may be bad for SEO. This is because the relevant content is muddied up with the other topics on the page. If you have enough in-depth content to create another page, it may be a good idea (seo wise) to create a multi-page site. The other side of this is that if you have a lot of content, such as text or images, it might be good to break those up into pages as well. Many people don’t like to have to scroll and scroll to find what they are looking for. You can solve this issue with a good anchor menu that automatically brings you to the topic you are looking for.
Multi-page Sites
Multi-page sites are great for a lot of content. You can break multiple topics down one-by-one and can create a page that is just about that topic. This makes it easy for visitors to find what they are looking for. Having a dedicated page for one topic makes it a lot easier to write the body copy using the best seo practices. When all the topics are on one page, they tend to compete with each other. It would make sense that a page that is about car engines and only about car engines would be more relevant in Google’s search algorithm than a page that talked about car engines, but was part of a large single page that contained information about car tires, transmissions, steering wheels, car stereos, etc.
So which one is better?
Content
The real question that you have to ask yourself is which one will better fit your content? If you have a lot of big topics and articles that contain a lot of information, then it would be better to create a multi-page site, broken down via main topic, and to create sub-pages with secondary and tertiary topics broken down as well. If you have a small amount of information, or you are creating a landing page, then a single page design is a good idea. The best idea is to let the content be your guide.
SEO
From an seo standpoint, when you have a 1 page website, it is tough to rank for a specific term or niche. Having multiple pages allows you to break things down and target keywords more effectively. The downside to this is that you have to create enough content in order to get indexed by Google. With a single page site, everything is plastered on one page, which is tough on on-page seo efforts.
Multi-page websites can take an entire page to focus on a specific keyword or term, which is important if you want to get found. Also, when your site is indexed, Google likes to see hierarchy and more content on your site than one page. It makes it easier for you to seem more relevant to a topic when you have more content. If you’re marketing efforts are going to focus more on paid search, then you might not have to worry about this, but I like free traffic, too.
What Do You Think?
How do you determine how you are going to structure a site? Do you use the same methodology described above? Or do you have your own set of criteria that determines whether you will create a multi-page or a single page site. Leave your answers in the comments section below.
