What is this sort of webpage design called?

What is this sort of web page layout called?

Tabbed browsing? I am not sure about the exact term?

Moreover, how does Google respond to this sort of design?

http://www.aid4mail.com/buy-now/email-forensics

 

I assume you are talking about the tabs "Get it Now", "System Requirements", "Supported Formats". I've no idea how this is called. They don't load a new page (no request to the server at all). They just toggle elements that are already in the HTML output. In that case Google considers all of this as one and the same page. So you will not find those 3 tab separated in the search results. It's all going to be available by your mentioned url above. Google fetches even the none-displayed content but how they are going to weight this is dependent on the relevance of the content in relation to the search query.

 

Thanks for your response.

So, do you think this type of design is the perfect balance between "content" (assuming it's relevant) and "simplicity"?

 

Unless you want to specifically optimize like hard core for the content within the tabs it's completely fine. You shouldn't worry too much about Google. Do whatever you think is the best approach for the website visitor.

 

Such a design should have some sort of push-content to the address-bar, and check to see if there is something in the url, so it's possible to link directly to one of the sub-pages. Apart from that, this doesn't really affect anything, besides usability. The page also relies heavily on javascript to even show content (if you turn off javascript, all you get is a warning saying you need to turn it on, and no showing of the previously hidden content) - hence it's a bad design.

 

hi Popsicle, when you say "push-content to the address bar" what do you mean?

 

Scripted tabs? There's no precise technical term really.
As for Google, they do stupid things, they make you do stupid things... But scripted tabs aren't necessarily bad if deployed correctly.
It is safe to say however that the website in question didn't, those onclick events really shouldn't be there. With javascript off, you won't be getting past that first tab, but not not only that, the whole website is completely broken.

The way I see it, a few class swaps would do the trick just fine. I don't see why Google would have a problem with it.

 

ok thanks guys.

I am devising a new content-rich (of interesting + relevant text) but I want to maintain the simplicity of the site.
I need to please the Google bot with content and the users with "simplicity" I do not want them having to wade through pages of text (no matter
how interesting it might be for some users).

I think the "scripted tabs" approach is the way to go.

 

With "push content" (a bit vague, I apologize) I mean push an attribute to the url - something like thisistheurl.com/index.php?section=something - which, if present, would trigger one of the sections to show - that way you would have the benefit of the tabs, but also the ability to link directly to a sub-section without having to first go to the first tab and then click through to the one you wanted.
Also, remember, when doing things like this, do it all via javascript - so that users with javascript turned off simply gets the whole page, all the content, on one page (granted, they'll be at a disadvantage, having to scroll a lot, etc, but the content will still make sense).

 

ok thanks for tips.

 

this is called tabbed design structure.

 

One of the problems with that kind of design is the most of the content is below the fold. The first part of a page is treated by the SEs as being the most important part of the content. You also reduce your overall weighting with Google by putting it all on one page. The number of pages on a site is a weighting factor, and the pace at which content is added in the form of new pages is also a weighting factor. I don't see much that is positive about such a design, unless it is for a collection that needs to be viewed as a unit; but there are a lot of negatives to overloading a page from both an SEO and usability POV.

 

What would I call it? Inaccessible rubbish and a stunning example of how NOT to build a website. If there's enough information to warrant separate pages, USE SEPARATE PAGES. IF there's not enough information to warrant separate pages, JUST SHOW THE BLOODY THING!