Can You Optimise a 1-Page Website For Search?

We often get asked if a 1-page website can still rank well in search. The assumption is usually either

• with very little copy, Google won’t find enough on the page to rank it;
• or that you can do some “SEO magic behind the scenes” to compensate for the little information the page offers

Neither of these is correct (and the latter is definitely not correct – it’s not 1998 any more).

What is Google looking for in any website?

There are three groups of influential factors that Google pays attention to

• the site’s inward link profile
• relevance to a search term as evidenced by user experience (simplistically, do searchers stay on the site after clicking through, or return to Google)
• Google’s comprehension of the site’s content

Do well with all three factors and your site will rank well.

Clearly with a 1-pager, you don’t get as much chance to score well for content comprehension, so the site needs a better link profile and better user experience to compensate.

Nonetheless, it’s worth bearing in mind that a 1-pager may well struggle to score well on user experience – it requires a very clear product or service proposition and well honed content to answer everything a user could want to know about what you offer.

And the lack of depth of content also gives less opportunity for other websites to have anything compelling enough to link to – such as articles or in depth information.

Our experience

Our experience is that usually, potential buyers have different needs and varying requirements from a product or service, and it’s rare that a 1-page website can answer all of these. Plus, a successful link acquisition plan often includes the generation of content that lives on a website.

So – can you optimise a 1-page website well?

Yes you can – but compensate for the lack of content with a better inward link profile and a positive experience for the user’s needs in relation to a search. The foundation for this will be the clearest understanding of the audience for your product / service, what they want from your product, and how your product can deliver on that.