Skip to content 
Earning Google’s Favor with Brilliant Tabbed Content
Authored by: Shannon Hill – Growth Marketing Specialist
As a Growth Marketing Specialist at Brand House Marketing, I’ve seen firsthand the numerous benefits tabbed content can bring to a website’s user interface. Still, I often encounter the question: Does tabbed content affect a site’s SEO performance? So, let me explain what we understand about Google’s treatment of tabbed content and its implications for your site’s rankings.
What Is Tabbed Content?
Tabs and accordions help organize your webpage by breaking content into sections that users can easily access with a click. Think of it as opening folders in a digital file cabinet—quick and efficient! Visitors can switch between content without loading new pages, improving their overall experience.
But here’s the real question: Does Google penalize content hidden within tabs regarding SEO rankings?
The Discussion Around SEO and Hidden Content
With SEO in mind, a crucial inquiry is whether Google penalizes content concealed within these tabs. The official stance from Google, as per their Google Search Essentials, acknowledges that while content in tabs can be crawled, it might not be deemed as accessible as immediately visible content. Matt Cutts, the previous head of webspam at Google, reassured us in 2013 that using tabs and accordions, when not intended for manipulative purposes, is perfectly fine.
Is Hidden Content Weighed the Same?
In 2014, Google’s John Mueller suggested that content hidden behind a “click to expand” or similar features might not carry as much weight as fully visible content. While Google can still index this content, it may be considered less significant because users need to take extra action to access it. The reasoning is that if users don’t immediately see the content, it could be perceived as less valuable or relevant to them.
However, using tabs and accordions can greatly improve the user experience by organizing large volumes of information—particularly for FAQs, product descriptions, or complex topics. This structure allows users to engage with content at their own pace without overwhelming them upfront. So, while there may be a slight SEO tradeoff, the benefit of a cleaner and more user-friendly layout can be well worth it, particularly when balancing user experience and search visibility.
The Mobile-First Approach’s Influence on SEO
The tide turned as mobile adoption surged and Google’s protocols evolved. By 2016, Google’s Gary Illyes announced that the content behind tabs would be given total weight on mobile devices due to its user experience benefits. Mueller’s remarks in 2020 further supported this, placing tabbed content on equal footing with other mobile page content.
Final Thoughts on Tabbed Content and SEO
From my stance at Brand House Marketing, whether your content is tabbed or not, its quality remains a vital SEO factor. Google doesn’t downgrade the value of excellent content simply for being tabbed if implemented in a way that makes it crawlable. User experience should be the foundation of your SEO strategy.
Looking to Perfect Your Site’s SEO?
If your tabbed content requires finesse to meet SEO best practices, our Senior Web Designer, Emnet, is passionate about steering our clients toward peak SEO performance. Our goal is to get you seen. We have a great group of marketing professionals who take each project personally, as though it were our own business because your success is our success. Contact Brand House Marketing today, and we will make sure your content works for users and search engines.
