One page websites and their impact on SEO performances

If you work in online marketing or web development or you just want to create a website for your business, you certainly heard about one-page websites.

One page websites contain a single HTML page which includes all the necessary sections of a site. Like any other site, one-page websites have a menu bar on top. The difference lies in the buttons, which instead of sending to different pages, they scroll the page up or down, sending the user to the desired section.

One page websites look very good aesthetically, offering the users an interesting visual experience. This is the main reason why companies from different areas of activity, like e-commerce, web design agencies or restaurants, choose one-page websites to promote their business online. However, there are some disadvantages, the impact on SEO (search engine optimization) being the biggest one.

Therefore, judging by the benefits and disadvantages, is a one-page website suitable for your business? If so, what can you do to also gain an advantage SEO wise? Read further to find the answers to these questions.

How to figure out if a one-page website is suitable for your business

Considering that the success of a SEO optimization strategy influences the success of an online business, you should first ask yourself the next question: "Are one-page websites favorable SEO wise?''

The general answer to this question is "not quite". Truth is, no matter how much you try, you can't attract a lot of organic traffic on a one-page website, because you can't have enough content to target a large diversity of Google keyword searches. Therefore, if the organic traffic is the main source of traffic you want to attract new clients with, a one-page website is not the best option.

However, businesses have different needs and objectives, from case to case. If you don't have enough resources or the know-how to build a long term SEO optimization strategy and the only keyword you want to be found by is the name of your brand (especially if there is little competition in the area of your business), a one page website can be enough to achieve your goals.

If you reached the conclusion that a one-page website doesn't have such a strong impact on your SEO objectives, here are three reasons why you should choose a one-page website:

1. One-page websites are cheaper and easier to create

Having a lot of intuitive website-creating tools, like Wix, Strikingly or IM Creator, you can create your one-page website quite easily. Even if you decide to hire a web development agency, a one-page website will still cost you less than a standard website that hasmore pages.

2. One-page websites offer a better user experience on mobile devices

Firstly, one page websites are easy to optimize on mobile devices, because their design remains mostly the same and the browsing structure is not very complicated. Moreover, most one-page website templates will look good both on a PC/laptop screen and on a smartphone/tablet screen.

Secondly, when you browse a website using a mobile device, scrolling is much easier than clicking. Scrolling on a mobile device screen is a very natural movement, which users prefer instead of clicking and waiting for other pages to load.

3. One page websites can bring higher conversion rates

We already saw that browsing a one-page website is far simpler and more intuitive. Having all the content on a single page, there is a greater chance the user will interact with it and the conversion from visitor to client will happen faster. If you find that a one-page website is what your business needs, this doesn't mean you should stop optimizing it SEO wise. Here's what you can do to have a SEO-friendly one-page website:

Choose the keywords carefully.

If you opt for a one-page website, there are slim chances you'll get occasional organic traffic from long tail keywords. Being limited by the fact that your website has only one page, you will not be able to conceive a strategy that will contain all the relevant keywords for your business. So you have to spend more time researching and carefully choosing only a few relevant keywords, on which to focus your efforts.

Group keywords based on subject and use them in different content sections.

There is no secret Google doesn't value the simple presence of keywords. Nowadays, the relevance of the keywords for the user is the most important. The more relevant and better optimized content on your website, , the higher your website will rank in search engines.

Keywords can be divided into multiple categories, depending on the subject they are associated with. Some refer to your products and services, others to your prices or to the location of your business operations. Mixing them together in a single page is a big mistake, because the content becomes irrelevant to Google.

In websites with multiple pages, it's much more simple, because any page can be optimized on a different keyword. What can you do if you have a one-page website? The solution is to create distinct sections, based on subject, and to optimize each section on a different keyword.

Create a H1 tag for each content section.

Normally, in websites with multiple pages, it is recommended to use one H1 tag on each page, because the H1 tag indicates the subject on that page. But if you have a one-page website with different sections, you have to break this rule and assign a H1 tag for each content section. This will tell Google there is a clear content separation, based on subject and relevance.