Ranch House has been doing websites since 1999, and one of the most frequently asked questions we get is “What counts as a ‘page’ on a website?”
The answer to this isn’t as simple as black and white. To put it in perspective, we like to refer back to the early days of web design – when the concept of a website was a new thing. Prior to websites, people primarily used print advertising as their main marketing method. And, print advertising is usually based on a page size like 8.5 x 11, 11×14, 8.5 x 5.5, etc.
When “web pages” first came out, it was essentially like putting a brochure online.
So, a web ‘page’ isn’t limited to 8.5 x 11. That’s the first misconception we have to address. Really, you have no limit on how long you want a ‘page’ to scroll on a website. It can go on and on forever.
But, with that said, you want to keep in mind page loading speed, and that is a factor in trying to keep your ‘pages’ on your website concise to some degree.
Sometimes we refer to a “page” on a website as basically an item in the navigation. For example, if you have a ranch website and the menu items are home, ranch history, bulls, females, cattle for sale …. that’s often viewed as five pages….even though, each of those pages is definitely longer than an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper.
Here is a good formula for what constitutes a “page” on a website:
- A minimum of 300 words of content (which is also great for SEO)
- 30 images or less (if you have more than 30 images, we suggest breaking it up into additional pages so your site will load faster).
- 15 PDF links (again, if you have more than this we suggest multiple pages)
- 2 page jumps
- 5 additional “buttons”
What is a page jump? This is what used to be called “anchors” in html sites. So, basically everything is still on one “page” but you have different jumps on the page to help people find certain text or content faster. We recommend no more than 2 per page.
Hopefully this helps answer “what is a ‘page’ on a website and if we can help you with building a website, we’d love to visit. You can request a quote here.