Media, entertainment, electronic commerce, business, and many more are just few of the many categories of websites. Each has its own unique framework, way of designing, and best-case SEO design. If your website’s sole purpose is to exhibit your business or portfolio, then having just a single page may be sufficient. While a single-page website allows for more freedom in terms of design, it leaves a lot to be desired in terms of search engine optimization.
This article will go over the various options for making a website that only has one page. We’ll also get into the finer points of SEO for a single-page website, and how SEO management services can tailor strategies for these unique challenges.
The definition of a one-page webpage
There is only one page on a single-page website, as the name suggests. The long-scrolling structure emphasizes a single call to action.
Even though they look the same, one-page websites provide a slightly distinct browsing experience. The term “one-page website” refers to a website that only has one HTML page and no further pages or content. You can’t navigate within the page since there are no internal links. Everything—text, images, and controls—has been streamlined into one seamless design. This layout makes scrolling feel fluid, providing the sense that the page’s elements work together harmoniously.
In contrast, websites that just have one page rely on dynamic content loading and anchor links. They respond to user input without forcing a complete page reload by dynamically retrieving and displaying content from the server.
Do search engines like single-page sites?
You should probably have more than one page up and running when you first release your website. The possibility for increasing organic traffic is stunted on single-page websites.
I’ll list the most important reasons why I think SEO should be avoided on single-page sites.
Weak keyword targeting due to lack of material
When you just have one page of content, you can only optimize for so many keywords.
While it is possible to target many keywords with a single landing page, doing so is rarely more efficient from an SEO perspective.
In “keyword mapping,” terms are assigned specific landing pages based on how Google interprets the user’s intent when typing in the term.
Manually searching for the terms and seeing what results Google returns is the greatest way to discover the search intent behind a keyword. You have a good chance of getting to the top of Google’s search results for your desired query if Google also ranks single-page websites highly.
But in my experience, Google gives higher rankings to the most relevant information. If you try to target keywords with varying levels of emphasis in different sections of text on the same page, you will dilute the page’s overall relevance. A more effective content strategy would be to divide this information into multiple, highly specific landing pages.
Google will give you more credit for being an authority in your field if you take the time to create a wide variety of material that is directly related to your specialty.
Consider the case where you need to buy some contact lenses. The lenses can be purchased from Shop A via their single-product landing page.
Store B, on the other hand, features a product page, a “contact us” page, and a number of helpful blog pieces that address frequently asked questions about contact lens eye care.
Of course, there’s a lot more going on than that. Potential customers may be split between Stores A and B, but they are more likely to patronize Store B due to the latter’s larger quantity and higher quality of reputable material.
Users will have a negative experience due to the lack of structure and organization
Websites that only have one page tend to be disorganized and difficult to navigate. Users sometimes find the experience annoying and confused when everything is crammed onto one page.
This is due to the fact that a user visiting a page-based website must resort to scrolling down the page and using anchor links (if any are provided) in order to get about. More content on a page increases the user’s frustration because they have to work harder to find what they’re looking for.
Header menus and breadcrumbs help organize content on websites with several pages. Users have little trouble figuring out how to use these interfaces. When properly set up, these also allow users to easily navigate between different sites.
When designing a single-page website, it’s common practice to condense the content for the sake of readability. Nonetheless, there are limitations to consider with this strategy. It’s possible that you’ll lose SEO value and fail to provide the information your users need if you streamline your content.
Potential for gaining backlinks is really low
The primary goal of many one-page websites is to convert visitors into buyers. Minimalist informational content like blog entries, studies, and campaign pages are typical.
One of the three foundations of SEO is link building. Your site’s search engine rankings will suffer if you release it with a layout that isn’t well-suited for attracting inbound links.
Having multiple pages allows you to gradually release more of the content that will inevitably garner inbound links.
Is it better for search engine optimization purposes to have a website that just has one page?
At this point, you might be asking who would want to maintain a website with only one page. Despite the many drawbacks I’ve discussed, you may find that a one-page website is the best option for you right now.
Many webmasters choose to launch with a simple landing page before planning for growth and expansion. In this case, a single-page website works well as a stand-in or minimum viable product.
They are low-priced and simple to install more. When compared to developing and hosting multiple pages, a single page requires fewer resources.
These are some of the more visible (and not search engine optimization-related) benefits of single-page websites. Plus, it helps out with search engine optimization.
They’re a fantastic jumping off point for new product introductions
If you’re getting ready to introduce a new product or service to the market, you’re probably working around the clock to get the accompanying comprehensive website ready.
Before a brand’s official debut (when you’ll transition to the complete site), a one-page website might serve as a suitable placeholder. Having the one-page site up and running before launching the brand guarantees that Google will have crawled and indexed the site at the very least.
As a result, you won’t have to worry about your brand (and website) launching before Google has a chance to index it. The loss of traffic to your website on the big day of your brand’s launch could be disastrous.
Having even a one-page website up and running before launch can get you indexed and help you start climbing the rankings for your brand’s most important terms.
PageRank ranks individual web pages
As I was saying before, it is typically more challenging to create backlinks toward a website consisting of a single page. This is undeniably true. A single-page website, however, has the distinct advantage of being less vulnerable to PageRank dilution.
Your site’s backlinks will all go to the same location. This prevents the PageRank from being spread out as authority is moved from one page to another inside your site.
On multi-page websites, the proportion of a backlink’s value sent via internal links gradually decreases over time. The value carried on dropped with each “hop,” a phenomenon known as the “PageRank Damping Factor.”
For illustration’s sake, let’s pretend that Shop A and Shop B both sell the same thing, but Shop A has a one-page website and Shop B has multiple pages. The corresponding root domains of both sites are linked back to via a backlink with the same PageRank value.
The backlink is most beneficial to Store A’s goods because it is featured prominently on the website’s front page (parent domain).
However, Shop B can only forward the PageRank from the main page to the product page via an internal link. Store B’s merchandise doesn’t get as big of a PageRank boost as Store A’s since the value decreases with each “hop” along an internal link.
However, a multi-page website’s inherent capacity to collect more backlinks than a single-page website makes it the better choice in most circumstances.
Naturally, they provide a satisfying experience for mobile customers
One more perk of single-page websites is that they are usually mobile-friendly. In fact, they are frequently designed with mobile access in mind.
Using anchor links to navigate generally goes down well with mobile consumers, and the shorter, snappier content is in line with standard practices for mobile SEO.
Now, more than ever, it is crucial to provide a satisfying mobile experience to your users. The bulk of all website visitors across the globe occur on mobile devices, as reported by Statista.
As a ranking signal, Google will also examine how well your site works on mobile devices and prioritize it in its crawling. There has never been a time when mobile optimization was more crucial.
Establish distinct levels
We’ve already discussed how single-page websites lack the obvious structure of drop-down menus and breadcrumbs.
Keeping this in mind, it’s important to establish a logical order for the sections of your page. A good place to begin is with a well-organized set of headings, with one H1 for the overall heading and subsequent H2s and H3s for subheadings.
You may make it easier for readers to browse and navigate your information by using these header tags in a sensible order to divide it up. If your heading structure is jumbled, the user will have to work more to figure out how to get about the page.
Don’t miss out on any heading levels (e.g., nesting an H4 exactly under an H2), as this is especially important for users who are visually challenged and may be using a screen reader.
Image optimization shouldn’t be ignored
SEO strategies typically fail to account for optimizing images. Since many one-page websites have numerous images, optimizing those images for search engines is essential.
Single-page websites are not subject to any additional guidelines; nonetheless, you should still adhere to best practices such as:
By naming files and including descriptive alt text
Minimizing photo file sizes and switching to modern formats
Importing pictures from a content distribution network
In addition to helping your site rank better in image searches, implementing these recommended practices will also help your site load faster.
Keep page load times in mind
This brings me to my second piece of advice: prioritize loading times. Make sure it loads quickly and smoothly, as it will be the only page your users visit.
Sure, page speed isn’t the most important SEO factor because there are hundreds of other ranking signals at play. It’s difficult to deny the positive effects on organic search results and user experience that a website’s speed and responsiveness may have.
John Mueller, when describing Core Web Vitals on Reddit, called it “more than a tie breaker” signal.
According to Think with Google, 53% of mobile site visitors will give up if the site takes longer than three seconds to load.
When you put all together, you have a pretty solid argument for why page speed should still matter.
Single-page websites should prioritize the lazy loading of content below the fold. Because you will be cramming more content onto each page than usual, load times will increase.
This means that the initial load time of resources that need the user to scroll will be increased. These assets will instead load in the background while the user scrolls.
Invest more time in creating links
We’ve already established that single-page websites have difficulty attracting natural backlinks. You should plan on spending even more time on link-building than usual in light of this.
Strategies that do not necessitate the addition of additional pages should be prioritized.
Specifically, you can’t employ techniques like link baiting to roll out sites specifically aimed at attracting links.
Offering your thoughts or a quote as an expert is an excellent approach to earn links without putting out any new content.
One more great way to gain backlinks without producing fresh content is to seek out unlinked brand mentions.
When an online publisher mentions (cites) your brand or a prominent speaker from your firm, but doesn’t include a backlink, that’s an unlinked brand mention.
Use Ahrefs’ Content Explorer to search for brand references
A custom search can be used to crawl the mentions and weed out the sites that already have a connection to your content.
Reach out to non-linking publishers and politely ask them to include a link.
To help you turn unlinked brand mentions into backlinks, Joshua Hardwick of Ahrefs has written a comprehensive tutorial. To learn more about the aforementioned procedures, you should read this.
Both of these methods of gaining inbound links do not necessitate the creation of original content.
Adhere to standard page format
The last piece of advice I have is a basic one, yet it is one of the most important. Best practices for on-page SEO should always be followed.
Since you’ll only have one page to work with, you’ll have to cut back on features like internal linking.
Important on-page factors, such as meta titles, meta descriptions, and keyword targeting, still need to be optimized.
Concluding Ideas
Not everyone prefers or needs a site with only one page. Personally, I prefer multi-page layouts wherever possible.
A single-page website may be appropriate as a temporary measure or minimum viable product (MVP) in some circumstances.
Important lessons
Lack of content hinders keyword targeting.
Expertise is difficult to build and display on one-page webpages.
Due to the inherent nature of single-page websites, you will need to increase your efforts in link building.
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