Yes ON will cause aches/pains and they can be one or two sided. Almost always, ON is caused by some mechanical disturbance to the cervical spine and spinal nerves coming out at C2 and/or C3 level.
ON has markedly different symptoms from migraines, for example as pain arises from the back of the neck and can be felt all the way over she skull bewhind the ears and down the forehead to just above the eyebrows. That's the geography covered by the occipital nerves, one-sided or bilateral, depending on how the nerves get irritated. Usually, the aches/pains are constant and continuous rather than episodic.
Treatments vary according to the severity of the pain and pain managers are accustomed to treating ON.
To absolutely diagnose ON, a local anesthetic can be injected in the neck at the site of the greater occipital nerve(s) which is easily found. If pain relief occurs, it can be quite dramatic. Personally, i've experienced EVERY attempt to relieve my neck/head pain and have gottend only temporary relief. My most recent treatment is a moderate dose of prednisone (a steroid used as an anti-inflammatory agent) which helps somewhat but is dangerous as it can have bad effects other organs. As i also suffer from Rheumatoid arthritis and so many joints in my body are also pain generators, my rheumatologist is starting me on a course of Remicade starting next week.
Good luck in getting diagnosed and working on a treatment.