While tabs can provide a sleek and compact way to present content, they’re not always the most effective solution. In this article, I’ll explain why creating separate pages is often superior alternative.
This article is specifically intended for situations where you want to add content inside tabs that function independently. AKA, the content of each tab should be accessible via a URL, menu item, button, etc. Thus, the content could be considered as it’s own page.
Accessibility
Screen Readers: For users relying on screen readers, separate pages are easier to navigate because each page is usually treated as a distinct unit, which can be clearly read and understood by assistive technologies. Tabs, on the other hand, can be confusing because the content is loaded dynamically, and screen readers may not always announce it properly.
Keyboard Navigation: When you have separate pages, it’s easier for users to navigate with just the keyboard, as they can directly access different pages via links. With tabs, it’s trickier to switch between sections without mouse interactions unless specific keyboard shortcuts are built in, and those aren’t always available or intuitive.
SEO
Unique URLs: Search engines like Google treat each page with a unique URL as a separate entity, which means that having separate pages allows each one to be indexed and ranked on its own merit.
Content Visibility: Separate pages allow search engines to fully analyze and rank the content on each page, which is especially important for content that’s deeper in a tab structure. If the content is only revealed via JavaScript interactions, search engines might miss it, or rank it lower due to it being difficult to access and index.
Pages Per Session: Having content on separate pages may also increase your visitor’s deep engagement (assuming they are actually clicking to view the various pages). This can be good indicator to search engines that users find the content valuable and are interacting with the site in a meaningful way
User Experience
Clarity: Users who have difficulty with dynamic content might prefer separate pages since the content is fully available from the start, without needing to interact with the page in a specific way (like clicking tabs).
Browser History: Separate pages make it easier to maintain a browser history with distinct URLs, meaning users can bookmark or share links to specific content directly. With tabs, users would be limited to sharing the entire page, not a specific piece of content.
Page Speed
Tabs require loading extra CSS, JS and in the case of WPBakery jQuery. So using tabs will also increase the number of scripts loaded on the site which may not significantly decrease loading time but can affect your Google Page Speed scores.