Tabbed Content Revisited

[spadedesign]

Hi-diddly-ho SEO gurus, quick question.

I just saw this article and wanted to get thoughts from the people here. https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-says-now-ok-put-content-behind-tabs/178020/

I am constantly at war with our UX guy on this subject because he believes, along with our CEO, that tabbed and accordion style information is better from THE UX standpoint. Less clutter on a page but with information still readily available. I am not here to argue that point but was wondering if you agree with the article posted here. I had to inform them their roll needed to be slowed until I could get something a little more concrete on the matter.

[RobCairns]

Hi Cassie,

I would agree with the article - I have been doing this for months now. In fact, I have found that accordion content not only improves UX but also SEO - since Google can read all information on tabs/accordion layouts now, you can put a heck of a lot more information above the fold for better UX and for improved SEO (since tab titles and content give you options for relevancy and semantic keywords).

My favourite uses for this are in the e-commerce industry, since ranking product pages or category pages can be extremely tricky, especially if you or your client want to use duplicate content. Content placement can be difficult to decide on, but accordions and tabs give you the option to front-load your content without forcing your visitors to scroll for an era to find your products.

Long story short, tabs and accordions improve UX (all information present, but visitors choose what to view) and SEO (easier relevancy, answer all questions for better user metrics, decrease bounce rates, etc.). Every time I have used this strategy it has resulted in ranking improvements and better user metrics on GA. I would try split testing it for yourself if you are still unsure - try using this method for 1 page with similar metrics to another page on your website. Track both pages for rankings, drop-off rates, etc. and see which works better.

Hope this helps and feel free to reach out if you have further questions or need clarification!

Cheers,

Rob