Long Pages vs. Many Pages

[Meggy B]

Hello! Not sure if this is the place to post but it seems topical...
For search engine optimization, and user experience, what is the general concensus on using really long pages vs. breaking it up into many pages.
I can understand that if you want to boost page views, you may want to break up long content into many pages, but is this better or worse for both search engine ranking and user experience.
Is there some optimium page length for websites?

[gabs]

Is there some optimium page length for websites?

No optimium but content is really important..

The thing I try to do is focus a page.. This is for the user.. Would the user find a long list of content useful ?

Many users look for more specific thing like lets say fishing for cod.. thus the page would cover how to fish for cod and be linked to an info page about cod and a page about where to fish for cod.. If the content is on the thin side you may consider combines these topics..

Hope that helps

[fire_lady]

As far as I know there is no length limit for website that matters much to SE.
Instead of thinking what SE will like, think of what your visitors will like.
Which is more appealing scrolling down or navigate to the next page?
Which is easier?

[hhheng]

Many pages is better.

[Thomas Schulz]

With many pages you get the chance to focus each page for a specific keyword phrase. Of course, keeping them too short will probably make your visitors annoyed.

[Bagi Zoltán]

After reading the guidelines of google I suggest you to use more pages than long pages. Over the size 101 Kb your site won't be indexed. And a site containing more than 100 outbound links can easily looked on link farm.

[cessai]

IMO, there is no limitation just be sure that you have a good and well optimize content

[sergeyL]

you should better consentrate on the more number of pages rather that their size as you will be double lucky with the searching engines with the great number of pages

[ChrisWebPub]

More pages, as has been said, allow you to target more specific keyphrases through use of the anchor text of your internal links. They also result in more ad impressions.

I like to aim for atleast 700 words though before I paginate, anything shorter and you risk annoying people.

[gabs]

I like to aim for atleast 700 words though before I paginate, anything shorter and you risk annoying people.

For information that is great but many times in my experience your lucky to get 100 words about a product..

This products come up in the serps if your structure and linkage is good enough!!!