Will using tabs on my page for navigation hurt SEO

[cayseo]

Currently we have tabs on some pages that are set so that the page shows all the content for search engines on one page, but the user sees only part of the content until they click a tab.  We are unable to use title tags for the tabbed areas.  We think this hurts us from an SEO standpoint.  We are getting only 3 keyword where we could have 12 if they were individual pages.  What is the thought on using tabs and is it okay?  Has there been any case studies on this?

[irvingw]

Individual pages would only be better if you have enough content on all of those pages sections to justify their own pages. If the content would be too flimsy, then you're better off keeping all the content on one beefy page.

[AlanBleiweiss]

In support of Irving, I'll add that the challenge of using tabs needs to consider how diluted the content is for a page when the content within those tabs goes too far off the primary focus of that page as well.   So the questions then become:

1. Do we have enough content to truly justify splitting these into individual pages?

2. Are the individual tabs unique enough to justify splitting and in turn would that reduce dilution on the page they're currently on?

3. By removing this content, are we killing the strength this page currently has to rank for it's primary topical focus, and if so, can we replace that content with enough on-focus content to make up for this issue?

4. How will we link to these new pages - will they be sub-pages of the page they're currently on? And if so, will we need to / can we implement a new sub-navigation bar or box, and breadcrumbs to show the new depth relationship?

[cayseo]

Thank you both for your timely response. I think we have enough content for separate pages, I will bring up the breadcrumb in our discussion. We are using the tabs as navigation, so we may look at alternatives to accommodate a parent/child relationship.