SEO - Should I use pages or tabs?

Publishing help SEO
1

Hi,

I am designing a website for a doctor who carries out vasectomies. I’m going listing the info about vasectomies:

  • about vasectomies
  • before vasectomy
  • after vasectomy
  • cost
  • vasectomy consent form

I have put this info on different pages. However, tabs seem to work better for UX.

How would the tabs compare for SEO? Will there be too much info on a single page? Also, how should I place the h1? Maybe just the initial tab and then subsequent tabs h2?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance

2

Unless there’s a lot of information for each section (about / before / after / etc)…

I would say use Tabs or Sections on a single page.

Classify them as H2’s… where-as they would probably H1’s on their pages.

(IMO) A separate page for each is not warranted.

Everyone will have their own opinions…

  • I’m looking at it from a user aspect as well as a search engine aspect.
3

Thanks for that feedback. Solid. That’s what I’m thinking too. I’m gonna leave put a H1 on top and then all the tabs will have H2’s.

4

I may be wrong but I’m fairly certain when I first joined webflow about a year ago, I either read somewhere or heard during a workshop or something…that the the content on a tab isn’t even picked up by the search engine at all.

I’ll see if I can source a reference.

1 Like
5

Here is a previous forum thread about the topic:

6

@Syndicate15

I was part of the discussion you linked to…

  • and I still have some reservations about using Tabs.

However, since then

  • I have released 3 websites using tabs (per client request)
  • and all tab content for all 3 clients have been picked up and indexed by google.

How high they are indexed cannot be (accurately) determined…

  • because I don’t do any tracking for them (…might I add: they don’t have any seo tracking at all)
  • so the content itself is the only factor in being indexed.

They are also in a very highly competitive arena.

That doesn’t mean “tabs are ok”… It means — in an unmeasured test… the content was picked up.

There’s only one way to find out…

  • (but of course…) use your tabs are your own discretion and peril.

If it makes sense to use Tabs… try it.

1 Like
7

@Syndicate15 @Revolution

Thanks all the info.

From what I’ve read, it looks like content that isn’t visible when the user lands might not be regarded as highly by Google. However, it will see the first tab visible tab so that will do for this website as all the important SEO info will be on the first tab.

So for this project, it doesn’t matter too much to me but it’s certainly good to know for future website builds.

1 Like
8

I think Google has actually changed its stance on this slightly since that last thread.

It’s now progressing towards a mobile-first index, which means that content on mobile and desktop should be as similar as possible. Since layout workarounds like tabs can make a big difference on mobile, it makes sense to give them more weight on desktop as well.

I would say it comes down to keyword targeting. If the content relates to the target keyword of the page, put it in tabs if need be. If it targets a new keyword, put it on its own page.

1 Like
9

Agree with CircleWorks. If there’s high value in targeting a specific keyphrase like “how much does a vasectomy cost?” (as I imagine there might be), a single page focused on that topic will perform better. It may make sense UX-wise to have summary versions of all this on one tabbed page, but I’d still consider placing more in-depth discussions of those topics on their own pages. Just don’t have the same content in the tabs as on the detailed pages.

1 Like
10

being an SEO person… I would agree with @jmw.

Cost should be a separate page.

The sub-topic of before / after vasectomy should be on the vasectomy page
---- unless there is a large amount of detail available for the sub-topic.

2 Likes
11

So using tab is basically not recommended? Asking because i´ve just switched some of our landing pages with tab on them.

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Heading tags are necessary to use, put the main keywords in tags and make a user experience tag that easy to read for both user and crawler. If you will made 4-5 pages website then it will be ok. To read more in detail find us on SEO Company in Jaipur.