Parallax scrolling – also known as parallax – is one of the latest trends in web design. However, many parallax websites are not well optimized for search engines. We would like to show how you can get your parallax page up to speed in terms of SEO.
What Is Parallax?
Invented by the video game industry, the goal of parallax was to simulate depth. In web design, parallax stands for a technique for creating 3D effects by moving multiple layers at different velocities.
The following lists contain websites that use innovative parallax:
- 20 Best Websites with Parallax Scrolling of 2013
- Parallax Scrolling: 30 schicke Beispiele des Webdesign-Trends
- 35 Stunning Parallax Scrolling WordPress Themes For Agencies, Designers, Apps and Portfolio 2014
Parallax & SEO
Lots of parallax examples are one-page websites, in other words websites that consist of a single page. However, parallax does not define the amount of pages. The problem with one-page websites is that only one single page per domain is indexed in Google, which –in terms of SEO – is not optimal at all.
A parallax page may harm search engines rankings based on the following criteria:
Keyword optimization: A single page cannot be optimized for many keywords, multiple landing pages are needed for this.
Loading times: Due to a lot of JavaScript code, many parallax pages load slowly.
Optimization for smartphones: Parallax pages may not be displayed correctly on mobile devices. With increasing visits from mobile devices and Google focusing on mobile usability, this is not to be neglected.
Browser compatibility: Many tests are necessary to make sure your parallax page is working properly on different browsers. If omitted, some visitors may not be able to use the page.
With the following two procedures you are able to avoid major SEO problems with parallax websites:
SEO Best Practice: Split One-Page Websites into Sections
With the jQuery “pushState” functionality you can divide one-page websites into multiple sections with particular URLs and meta data. Consequently, a page may be indexed multiple times for different content and keywords. The URLs can be used for internal linking as well.
SEO Best Practice: Create “Hybrid” Websites
Hybrid websites, like Spotify, use parallax on their home page and link to further pages that are “static” and do not use parallax. This allows you to impress your visitors with a nice home page and guide them to keyword-optimized pages for detailed information.
If you want to implement parallax on your website, carefully choose one page (e.g. home page or a product page) and link it internally. This way you can combine a nice parallax page with SEO.
Header image: weblinc.com
