Do One Page Websites Actually Work?

As you browse through the Internet you will undoubtedly come across a number of one page websites for various businesses and that in itself brings up a rather interesting question, do they actually work?

From a design perspective, it is easy for the designer to create this kind of website as everything is on the one page and it is certainly a lot simpler for the site to be put together. However, we are not talking about it from the angle of the designer and instead it is more to do with how it is perceived not only by site visitors, but also Google and whether or not it can put the correct message across for your business.

What Do We Mean By A One Page Website?

First, we should explain what we mean by a one page website. With a website of this nature everything is on the one page, but there can still be a navigation bar that acts in the exact same way as a menu bar for a multi-page website. However, when you click on those menu buttons it does mean that you will jump to different sections, but they will still be on the same page. You will also find that the menu will often hover at the top of your page making it easier for you to move around.

This structure does allow the owner of the website to still break it up into different sections. This means there can be an ‘about us’ section, product page, gallery, and so much more. In other words, a one page website does not have to be as boring or as plain as you think.

How A One Page Website Affects SEO.

We really do need to discuss the impact of a single page website with SEO because obviously we want to make sure that this style of website does not impact on how your site can rank on Google.

The good news is that Google have personally stated that they will treat single page websites exactly the same as multi-page websites and that should certainly come as a bit of a relief to you.

However, there is clearly going to be one area of SEO that cannot work with this type of website and that area is the way in which the spiders sent by Google index various pages as it weaves its way through your site. Now, of course they cannot do this as there is only the one page, so it does mean that you are only going to have that single page appearing on the results pages as opposed to those sites that have multiple pages appearing.

That is just one slightly unfortunate difference, but overall a one page website still works pretty well when it comes to SEO.

The reason for this is that you can still have your keywords, you can still have meta tags and your meta description, you can still have H1, H2, and H3 tags, and various other aspects of SEO on that one page. Google will still index it and pick up on those points and backlinks will still work as they do not exactly care how many pages you have on your website.

So, when it comes to SEO, you are only missing out on one section and that is not too bad and is certainly not something that should put you off trying it out for your own business.

How About Content?

We should also mention content because people think that they are going to be limited by what can be put on a single page website. Now, it is true that some people use this model simply because they want nothing more than a landing page for their business as if they are just announcing to the world that they actually are on the Internet. However, you need to remember one important thing.

This one single page can be as long as you want.

Yes, just because it is one page does not mean that it has to be a short single page and that is why modern takes on this style includes buttons that help you to jump around to various points of your website. You have to remember that you can add whatever you want to those points, so you can have slideshows, videos playing, really anything that you can think of and the size of those sections are also going to be completely fluid in nature.

So, do one page websites work?

The answer to this is absolutely and even though they might mainly be a design phase that then passes, they will always have a role to play with websites. They are rather cool, they are quite effective for viewing in smartphones and tablets, and you have less restrictions with them than you perhaps imagine.

The best thing to do is to sit down and talk to your designer and get some feedback on what their thoughts are regarding this approach. If you are both in agreement that it will work for your business, then go for it because at least then you will absolutely love the end result and, hopefully, so will those  all important visitors.