Getting Started
How Many Website Pages I Need?
Google indexes (captures) and ranks the individual website pages, not websites. The more pages your website has the more content you will have which may increase the amount of traffic. The more traffic generated, the more likely it will rank well by Google, especially if you keep adding fresh, relevant “original” content that is referenced on other high quality websites. If your website is offering multiple products or services, you will want to assign a page to each one rather than put them all on one page. A good strategy is to create a Main Products or Main Services page. Think of the Home page as a Table of Contents for the whole website, and the Main Product or Services page as a Table of Contents dedicated explicitly to what you sell. Doing this allows you to optimize the content for each page for a richer user experience, and also make it easier for the search engine to categorize the content on the page.
In addition to the primary pages (Home, About and Contact), additional pages should focus on and promote your product or service. Will a simple description of the product or service be sufficient, or do you need to think more like a catalog structure, where many versions need to be described.
Don’t create pages that contain duplicate content or has content that is not helpful. Don’t copy and past content from competing websites. Google’s algorithm is very intelligent and is able to detect if you copied copy from someone else’s website. If the search engine detects this they will just ignore the content over time.
The easiest way to determine if a page is useful is to ask yourself:
- Does the page speak to your ideal customer in a way that answers their questions with relevant content related to their inquiry or research?
- Is the page substantively different from your other pages?
- Is the on-page copy unique (original) content?
- Does the page play a role in the buyer’s decision paths? If yes:
- How is it helping to build trust?
- Does it move them along the buyer’s journey?
If your answer to these questions is no you probably don’t need the page.
Once the site is launched, it is important to look at what’s happening with your pages; if a page is bringing in traffic but it’s not converting visitors to leads you may want to rethink the on-page copy and strategy.
There is no right or wrong answer to how many pages you need, it depends on your marketing goals, what you are selling and what you want the website to accomplish. It is generally believed that the more helpful and informative the content is valued by your ideal customer, the better the website will perform.