As always in my articles, even before to start to give you the reasons why one is better vs. the other, we really need to know what does it mean!
What does it mean One-page?
According to Idearum, the One Page websites are websites that only have one tab (the home page) where all the company’s information can be found. If you still find it hard to understand, at a technical level, the One Page web page loads only once. This type of web pages usually has a menu that scrolls the content down to help navigation through the page. Nowadays it is quite common to see One Page websites on the Internet.
What does it mean Multi-page?
Multi Page web pages are websites that contain several tabs of information. They would be the classic pages the most common on the Internet. They are those that through a main menu allow us to navigate through several tabs of the web to see certain information. In this type of web pages, every time we click on a menu item, submenu, etc. a new tab is loaded.
Now that we genuinely understand the topic, it is also, crucial to know that the layout of a website can be quite important as it affects the overall user experience people will have. Whether the content is visually pleasing and whether the navigation is easy to use are things you should not ignore when you build a website.
Nowadays, the one-page websites are an alternative to the standard multi-page websites that we are all used to. If you want to build a website, you should wonder which option is better. Should you stick to the classic layout, or should you use the more modern one? Well, keep reading to decide.
Single-page website
The design is clean and simple. Because the home page is the only page, so all the information will be on it. The only exception may be for special pages.
- Advantages
– Better user experience
These websites are very user-friendly, and it is more likely for people to check them out, as they can usually scroll to the bottom and have a look at all the content quickly.
– Cheaper and faster to build
It takes much less time and money to create a single page compared to building a multi-website.
– Clean layout
You should make sure that your content is as concise as possible if you want it to look good. Make the overall layout exceptionally clean. This way, visitors can focus on the product/service you offer and on your Call-to-action button.
- Easy navigation
It is extremely easy to navigate as everything is in one place. You can add a menu on top of the page for even faster access. The links will lead to anchors on the page, though, so there is no chance for visitors to get lost, as it can often happen on websites that consist of lots of pages.
– Easier to update
Maintaining one page is much easier compared to maintaining a large multi-page site. And the chance of something going wrong is lower.
- Mobile friendly
It is much easier to make the code for a single page mobile friendly compared to making an entire multi-page website compatible. As an example, all it takes to browse a one-page website is to scroll down, which is very convenient for mobile users.
– Higher conversion rates
These happen, because your visitors will not be distracted by other content on the site or navigation options that will take them to a different page. —
- Disadvantages
– Limited space
A single-page website does not give you much space for content, it is to say that, may not be able to add all the text, images or infographics that you want to. Since, the less likely it will be for visitors to scroll all the way down.
– Limited SEO options
Being a One-page website, it has less content on the website and may have negative impact on your search engine optimization. Because it will have fewer keywords, so search engines may decide to skip the website in their results. Also, it will be much harder to share a link to specific content or to use analytics software to track the performance of different parts of the site.
- Navigation
Scrolling up and down too much can also be frustrating. And this occurs when a page is too long, having only anchors instead of actual menu links to internal pages can be a problem as there will be no menu you can use for faster navigation.
Multi-page website
This is the classic design that most websites still follow. The idea is the same: there is a home page and often a menu that leads to multiple internal pages.
- Advantages
– Better SEO
It will be more likely for search engines to list your site in their results due to the higher number of pages on different topics that are a part of the site. If you have more pages, you can have much more SEO-specific content. So, you will have many more keywords and meta tags, and it will be more likely for external websites to add backlinks to your site.
– Navigation
It is an advantage, and the reason is that if done right, navigation on a multi-page website can be really helpful. You can add a custom mega menu with different categories and a search bar, so your visitors can always find what they need with a couple of clicks.
– Usability
Such a website is often easier to use as you will not have to skip or limit any relevant content. Multi-page sites are usually well-organized and people are used to them.
- Scalability
It can add as many pages as you want, so you will not have to worry about the growth of your website. A multi-page website allows you to add fresh content with ease.
- Disadvantages
- Maintenance
If you have various modules or different platforms, it will take more time to update them, and it will be more likely for some issue to come up. Also, search engines also change their algorithms sometimes, so the more content you have, the more time-consuming it will be to meet the new requirements.
– More distracting
If there are more pages and more menu links, people will be more likely to get distracted and to browse different pages on the site, staying less time on each page.
– Less user-friendly on mobile
It is harder to make a multi-page website mobile-friendly, as you will have to go through each individual page. Even if you decide to make a mobile version of the site, you will have to spend even more time to maintain both the desktop and the mobile versions.
Remember that is a personal choice. Use a single-page website or a multipage one. Because there is no rule when you should use either one, and one is not better than the other.