Page length question.

In your opinion is it better....

[StanTheMan]

A question I have mulled over. In order to get a site updated as best as possible. In your opinion is it better....

1) To have a small sized page with sensible links onto small high quality content pages.

or it better:
2) To have large sized page with sensible links onto large high quality content pages.

My thinking behind this, is that the second option would take longer to spider the whole site, therefore some pages may not be updated as regular as the first option.

Or doesn't it make a blind bit of difference!

What do you reckon?

[dougmcc1]

It all depends. Your smaller sized page could rank better than the bigger one. Try both and see what does better.

[DerekJPreston]

Smaller pages... Beware of particularly small pages.

Most ranking algorithms include some element of textual analysis within the page. Consider a page that simply says:

Under construction

Each word counts for 50% of the text. Words in normal text never occur with anything like that frequency. So search engine ranking algorithms have lower limits on number of words. Otherwise 2, 3, 4 or 5 pages would always outperform longer and more useful pages with some realistic text on them.

As a guideline, I'd suggest ensuring that your page has at least a paragraph's worth of text on it.

Derek J. Preston

[edited by: agerhart at 3:50 pm (utc) on Sep. 19, 2003]
[edit reason] no sigs [/edit]

[StanTheMan]

Thanks for the info Derek

Its always good getting advice from another angle.

[crowthercm]

I would suggest that your best bet is smaller/middle. My thoughts are that if the page is too large, you could have probably optimized more than one term. Too small, and derek is right on the money.

A good way (i think at anyrate) to do it is to pick the term/terms you're trying to optimize. Next build a page that is large enough that you can include the term(s) in each of the main tags at least once. i.e. title, h1-h6, strong, etc.