The Ups and Downs of Parallax Websites

by Web TeamJune 2, 2015

Parallax is a type of website design that involves altering the CSS code to create a continuous scrolling feature in which graphic elements and text interact with the scrolling motion and exhibit movement. This generates the appearance of a layered visual effect, helping create the depth between the moving images, text, graphics, and background.

Nowadays, most parallax websites belong to companies more focused on facing consumers. These types of companies tend to be more on the cutting edge of innovative marketing techniques. Parallax websites can also work for business-to-business or B2B companies. Service-related businesses also have parallax websites and it has worked for them. Its dynamic design manages to hold visitors’ attention longer.

One of the best things website owners love about parallax web design is its ability to walk visitors through a story by simply scrolling down the page. Visitors who don’t like clicking on a lot of links or go through several pages to get to the content they want prefer this type of page as well. Companies who use parallax design let the website stand out from the rest. The style holds the attention of viewers longer than the usual website.

Parallax website design attracts the younger audiences that seek a different user experience. Viewers are also kept on track with the more fluid and linear style of communication, letting them absorb more of the company’s brand messaging. One drawback, though, that parallax websites have is related to Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Because a parallax website is designed to be a single page website, it is difficult to optimize the site for a wide variety of keywords. The design limits an SEO expert to just one set of meta data, meaning there is only one way for customers to find the page on the web. Websites with multiple pages can be found when the search engine crawls the other pages. SEO experts recommend using one H1 tag per page. But since parallax websites only have one page, it limits the amount of H1 keywords. Cramming all keywords into one header will make search engines suspect something was up.

SEO experts generally recommend using only one H1 (header) tag per page, and having only one page limits the amount of H1 keywords on a parallax site. Technically, you could cram them all into the one header. But it wouldn’t make sense to readers, and the search engines would be suspicious.

If you decide to have a parallax website, make sure that the page does not take too long to load. Instead of staying, people will leave because of the long loading time. Parallax websites also tend to be a problem with mobile devices. Visitors might end up going to a different website which is mobile device friendly. If you want the website to work well with mobile devices, make sure you use images that don’t take long to load.

Parallax website design is a new and appealing way to draw website visitors. It can help your site stand out from the rest because of its trendy design. As long as you won’t depend on SEO to drive traffic to your website, it is a great option especially if you are after a modern look and feel.

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