This may seem like a simple question, but it’s important to make sure your page is logical. This is not only to make it easier for users of your site to browse, but also for search engines. In short, the way you organize your pages can help you get higher rankings in search engines and bring more traffic to your site. Fortunately for
, building (or reorganizing) your website architecture doesn’t have to be a chore. In this article, we will take a closer look at the site structure and discuss why it is important for search engine optimization (SEO). Then we will show you how to create a website structure that is good for SEO.
site structure introduction
site structure (also known as site architecture) refers to the way your content is classified and linked together. In essence, it involves your website framework and your page organization.
for example, most sites group their pages by theme or theme. In the following example, you can see that the page is organized under appropriate headings:
these headings are usually divided into more specific subcategories. As you can see, the sports page contains links to other lower-level pages, such asExplore FootballandModest Activewear.
A good website structure enables users to visually browse your site and guide them to a predetermined goal. In addition, it can help search engines better understand your site and enable them to distinguish between your pages.
one of the main reasons why site structure is important to SEO
page structure is important to SEO is that it helps search engines find and index your pages. If your web page is a few clicks away from your home page, it will be difficult for search engines to access them.
is not only that, it also makes it easy for users to browse your content. With a good site structure, your target audience can quickly find what they need:
can help users stay on your site longer and reduce your bounce rate. Google will see this as a sign that your site provides value, which in turn can increase your visibility in search results.
in addition, a good website structure can prevent cannibalism. When you organize your site, your content has obvious goals and themes that can be identified by search engines immediately. Therefore, even if you cover similar topics on multiple pages, your structure will prevent your page from being ranked for the same keywords. How
creates a SEO-friendly website structure
now that you know more about the website structure and why it is important, let’s take a look at some specific ways to create a SEO-friendly structure for your site. It is a good idea for
to build a simple hierarchy
to design a site with multiple categories that will also branch into organized sub-pages. This makes it easy for users (and search engines) to browse your content. It also gives them first access to your top-level page (which is often your most important page).
if the structure of a website is complex, it will be difficult for users to find what they need. Therefore, consider designing your site so that visitors can quickly find what they are looking for, no matter where they are on your site.
creating a simple hierarchy is also important for SEO. Clear categories and internal links make your content easier to crawl.
Image Source: Backlinko
organizes sub-pages into logical categories
, as we mentioned earlier, categories add organization and structure to your page. Without them, your content may be difficult to navigate.
even better, categories don’t have to be set on stones. For example, you can add a new page to an existing category. Or, if you design new pages that don’t fit your categories, you can easily create new categories for them.
if you manage an e-commerce store, you can consider using product categories. If you run a blog, you can organize content by theme:
, a poorly organized site, is prone to keyword overlap if there is a lack of definitions for different types of content. Then you are more likely to face the problem of repetition and keyword encroachment.
uses internal links to your advantage
because the structure of your site is largely determined by the way your pages are grouped, your navigation menu becomes very important. Here, you can tell users where to find your main content and subcategories.
however, you can also use internal links on your articles to direct visitors to other related articles. For example, you can use descriptive anchor text to show users similar travel guides:
links several articles on different aspects of the same topic, and you can help search engines identify your site as an industry expert. If your pages are randomly distributed and there is no obvious relationship between them, this authority may be difficult to achieve.
includes related keywords
when choosing keywords for your content, you need to consider search volume and traffic potential. Google keyword planner, Semrush and Ahrefs are great tools that allow you to find relevant keywords and determine how easy / difficult their rankings are:
It is important to pay attention to the degree of competition of keywords. Your chances of surpassing high-traffic websites are slim. Therefore, you may want to choose the long tail keyword. The search volume of these keywords is lower, but it is easier to get rankings because they are more specific.
once you have selected your keywords, you can put them in the best place, such as your URL, title and meta description:
you can also include these search terms in your content. However, you should avoid plugging in keywords, as this may make your content seem unnatural.
creates the “pillar” page
regards the pillar page as really comprehensive and important. You can create pillar pages that cover a wider range of topic areas. You can then use these pages to link to more in-depth and specific content. In this way, you can highlight your most important content and position your pillar page as a high-volume keyword ranking.
, however, you can also pull visitors further into your site by using long-tailed keywords on lower-level pages:
so that users who search for more specific content can easily bypass the mainstay page to get what they need. At the same time, your central page can cater to those looking for general information.
optimizes URL structure
search engine also uses your URL to understand your page content. In fact, they consider many factors, including the elements on and under the page.
and when we talk about simple hierarchies and organizing content using categories above, that’s what we’re talking about! URL structure is the main means for us to organize content.
Permalink best practices recommend that you keep URL short and use your target keywords. In addition, consider using lowercase letters and hyphens to connect words.
A well-executed website structure usually has a search engine-friendly URL, showing that child pages are organized and nested in logical parent “categories” or subfolders.
this enables you to describe the relationship between your sub-theme and your general page. In addition, it shows visitors where they are on your site.
increases the speed of your website
website speed is an important indicator of user-friendly websites. In fact, when the page load time ranges from 1 second to 3 seconds, the bounce rate increases by 32%. However, website speed also affects how search engines read your site. The longer they crawl your page, the lower your ranking is likely to be.
has a fast website that allows Google to crawl more than one page at a time. So it’s important to test your site’s speed with a free tool like Pingdom:
has many factors that affect your site’s performance, such as user location, browser type, and your hosting server. Therefore, switching to a managed WordPress host may be a good decision.
has other ways to improve the speed of your website. For example, you can optimize your image to reduce image and text size. You can also minimize resources such as JavaScript and CSS, and remove expired or unused plug-ins.
provides clear navigation design
it is important that your navigation menu design be simple and intuitive to help users find what they are looking for. With this in mind, you can make your top-level projects accessible on every web page.
typically, these items are then extended to drop-down menus. However, you should avoid filling drop-down menus with too many pages. Instead, your menu should be scannable to help users browse your site quickly.
if you have many pages on your site, giant menus are a good choice:
, so you can make all your pages visible and accessible in one place. This can help improve your user experience (UX) and improve user engagement.
and, since search engines also use your navigation menus to help understand and rank your content, clarity and organization are very important here!
delete old pages
what, delete pages?
while this may seem counterintuitive, there are old, outdated pages on your site that will still be indexed by Google and waste the so-called “crawl budget”.
crawl budget refers to the maximum number of pages that a search engine can crawl. This figure is determined by several factors, including the speed of the website. You can maximize your crawling ability by cleaning up your website. For example, you can update existing content or delete pages that are no longer relevant.
this should not affect your search engine rankings, as long as you target pages that don’t attract a lot of traffic. In addition, you can afford to lose pages that contain repetitive content, or pages with poor link assets. In addition, it is a good idea to check if there are any backlinks that lead visitors to your deleted page, as this will return a 404 error. Another way for
to deal with the old pages of old articles is to reprocess the old content to reattract the attention of search engines and users. You can read “fried cold rice is also a means to make a good SEO”.
Summary
as a website owner, one of your main goals is to get more visitors. A good way to do this is to improve your search rankings. However, because the competition is so fierce, this may be difficult to achieve. Fortunately for
, you can create a search engine-friendly website structure that makes your pages more visible. For example, you can create a simple hierarchy consisting of pillar pages and subcategories. You can also implement an internal link strategy, get rid of old content, and optimize your URLs.
