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 Can You Get High Search Rankings With A One Page Website?
In the earliest days of the web, one-page websites were fairly common. After which, they gradually fell into obscurity, only to become popular once again over the past few years.
As the name suggests, a one-page website is a site that has only one HTML page. Unlike a more ‘conventional’ website where on-page links channel traffic to different pages, all information is presented on the same page in different sections.
Increasingly, one-page website development is proving popular among artists, graphic designers, freelancers, entrepreneurs – even some smaller e-commerce businesses. In fact, anyone looking to provide an at-a-glance snapshot of whatever it is they do could find a one-page website just the thing.
All well and good, but this lack of ‘depth’ in the conventional sense raises questions regarding authority and SEO value. Google has made it abundantly clear that the deepest, richest and most authoritative websites in any given niche will always be prioritised.
Does this, therefore, mean that a one-page website that lacks deep, rich and authoritative content in abundance cannot rank prominently?
In a word...no, it means nothing of the sort.
Google Steps in to Clarify
The debate regarding the whole thing continues to rage, but Google’s own John Mueller stepped in a while back to put the topic to bed.
His remarks came during a Google Search Central SEO office-hours hangout, during which he responded to a query from a Reddit user.
The user in question asked whether a one-page site could ever compete with a more content-rich website, to which Mr Mueller provided the following response:
“I think you can make good one-page sites. So from that point of view, I’m not too worried about that.”
“I think the Reddit post, as far as I remember, was something along the lines: ‘I created 30 blog posts, and they’re really good, and therefore my website should be authoritative.”
“And from my point of view, you going off and creating 30 blog posts does not automatically make your website authoritative.”
“And especially for the higher or the more critical topics, it’s something where you can’t just create 30 blog posts on a medical topic and then say: ‘I am a doctor I’ve written 30 articles.’ So that was the direction I was headed there.”
No Authority, No Problem?
Interestingly, Mr Mueller continued to state outright that some smaller businesses need not concern themselves with establishing their authority. Even though this has been a major ranking factor for some time, it is not always the most important factor for SEO purposes:
“For a lot of websites, it’s not that you need to be seen as an authority. You essentially put your content out there. If you’re a small business you’re selling something. You don’t need to be an authority.”
“And especially things where like one page websites they’re often very focused on this one thing and you don’t need to be an authority to do that one thing.”
“To sell, I don’t know, an eBook, or to give information about opening hours for a business. It’s like, it’s just information.”
“So, from that point of view, having a one page website, I think it’s perfectly fine.”
A Starting Point for Expansion
Rounding off his remarks, Mr Mueller somewhat contradicted his own comments, but suggesting that a one-page website would be better seen as something of a starting point:
“With regards to starting out with a one-page website, I think that’s fine, but I would think about where do you want to go from there at some point,”
“Maybe you do want to create more pages and try to find a way that you don’t paint yourself into a corner by saying, well, I have to put everything on one page all the time. But rather expand when you see that it fits.”
Roughly translated – a one-page website is ‘fine’, but a deeper and more authoritative website with plenty of useful content is still a better option.