One page or several? Choosing the right size for your first website

One of the first questions for a new website is how big it should be. Should everything fit on one long page, or should there be separate pages for services, prices and contact? Both can work. It depends on what you offer and how people find you.

The one-page website

Everything is on a single page that visitors scroll through: what you do, services, photos, reviews and contact.

Good for: - a business with one main service - an event, a launch or a temporary campaign - a very small budget or a very tight deadline

Limits: - one page can only rank on Google for a few searches - it gets long and hard to navigate as you add services - it is harder to link to a specific service

The multi-page website

A homepage plus separate pages, usually one for each main service, an About page, a contact page and maybe a blog or projects. Each page can have its own title, which Google uses for the clickable title link in its results [1].

Good for: - several services or products - customers who search for specific things ("bathroom renovation", "tyre change") - businesses that want to be found on Google for more than their name

Limits: - more content to write and keep up to date - more planning upfront

Why separate pages help SEO

Google ranks pages, not websites. A separate page for each service, with its own title and content, can appear for searches about that service. That is the main reason most businesses outgrow a one-page site. More in SEO for a business website: where to start. Google also recommends simple, descriptive URLs, which come naturally when each topic has its own page [2].

A simple way to decide

Count the things a customer might search for: each main service, each town you serve, each type of customer. If the answer is one or two, a one-page site can be enough. If it is more, plan a page for each. Google's SEO Starter Guide suggests starting from the words your customers would use to search [3].

A typical first website

For most small businesses, a good start is:

1. Homepage
2. A page for each main service (two to five)
3. About us: what to write on it
4. Projects or reviews
5. Contact

That is five to ten pages, enough to be found and small enough to finish quickly.

Start with the pages your customers actually need, and add more as your business and your questions grow.

You can always grow

A good website is easy to extend. Adding a page later should be a small update, not a rebuild. With our monthly plan, new pages are added as new versions of your site. See also your first business website: a step-by-step plan.

References

1. Google Search Central. "Influencing your title links in search results." developers.google.com
2. Google Search Central. "URL structure best practices for Google Search." developers.google.com
3. Google Search Central. "SEO Starter Guide." developers.google.com