8 reasons why a One Page website is terrible

If you search in Dutch or English for advantages or disadvantages one page website, you will see that everyone has used each other's content for inspiration.

You can find the same lists everywhere. But no one really goes deep into the disadvantages in the field of online marketing.

So high time we did. And in this article, I'm going to list 8 of those drawbacks.

1. Less pure measurements because you have no pages

If you do a lot with Google Analytics, then terms like pages per session, average session duration, pages viewed and number of session are all familiar to you. But all those numbers come to look different with a one page website.

Because you don't know how many pages people have viewed. The bounce rate will generally be higher, you have fewer funnel options, you don't know how many people viewed your contact page, etc.

That really makes drawing conclusions a lot harder.

2. No organic sitelink extensions

Sitelinks are extra links in Google below your search result. They allow you to grab more space in the organic search result and so someone is more likely to click on your website.

See.

But do you think that with your one page website you also have these nice organic sitelinks? No. You can forget about that. If you don't have multiple pages, you're not going to grab this space.

3. Everyone lands on the same page, so the most important content above the fold no longer applies

People are lazy. People don't feel like having to spend hours looking for the right content within your website. And they also don't feel like having to scroll for hours before they see what they want to see.

In other words, the most important content should be above the fold. But what is your most important content if you have a one pager? Is it your contact information? Your USPs? Your new company video? Reviews? Services? With a one page website, all visitors land on the same page. Regardless of your target segment and regardless of where they are in the customer journey. And that sucks for your conversion rate.

Plus, you only have one page you can use for your socials, For your Google Ads and for your email marketing. Also inconvenient.

4. 1000+ words on your one pager is possible, but you can't rank for 100+ keywords with 1 page

The single biggest drawback of a one page website is still the whole SEO story. Right. Our specialty.

Who do you think will win: Pete with a one page website with 1,000 words or John with a complete website with blogs, landing pages, etc?

That will be Johnny, of course. In fact, with a one page website, it is incredibly difficult to score in terms of SEO.

This is because you cannot focus on 50+ keywords with one page, there is no internal link structure and there are no internal links.

So can't you score at all with a one page website? Yep, but you will never capture your niche and really be able to build a business on it (yes, I get that there are exceptions).

5. People are not used to a one page website

Of course, the one page Web site has been around for a while, but how often do you come across it? The first thing I do when I want to do business with a party is look for the about us page.

Shit... I can't find the menu. Then just scroll? Or then just go back to Google and search on the company name + the team behind it?

Then I would like to request a quote. Hey, that option isn't there. There is a contact form, though. But I want a quote...

I could go on and on like this. With your website, don't try to do any crazy antics. People are creatures of habit, so stick to what people are used to.

So a normal website. With pages.

6. If you post too much content, the load time won't be good either

Unfortunately. You are already stuck with a one pager or from management the one page website is being pushed through.

So what are you going to do? You're going to optimize it for SEO. You're going to put all your content on it. For all your audiences. The end result: a one pager of 1500+ words, 3 videos, 2 forms, 15 images and too many plugins and features.

Then you have a one pager that should generally be faster than a regular website, but now you are stuck with a one pager that is also terribly slow.

By cramming your one page website so full, you also wipe out one of the biggest advantages of a one pager.

7. Retargeting is trickier

Retargeting is possible with a one pager. Absolutely. But if someone has viewed your offer page and hasn't converted, you might want to push a discount code or a video with 5 reasons why they should buy your product after all.

But with retargeting for a one page website, the latter isn't really possible either. Because since you only have one page, you can no longer make that distinction.

After all, everyone lands on the same page and the same content. So you don't know who to retarget when and how.

8. A one pager is not always more manageable

A commonly read argument that people do opt for a one pager is the argument that it is more organized. Something about people prefer to scroll, rather than click.

Yes, scrolling is easier than clicking. But do you really think all the content on one page works better for every audience than a website that is well structured and takes the visitor by the hand? No way.