Website Structure: What is it?
Professionals typically refer to it as architecture or framework, but simply put, structure essentially defines how your website is presented to visitors. It refers to how your pages and contents are linked and organised together so that the algorithm can read its context. Structure is a vital aspect of your SEO strategy and can play a significant role in allowing your site to rank higher in Google. So, what does this mean for your website? Well, there are various factors you will need to consider during the planning stage of your site to achieve great structure:- Breadcrumbs
- Internal Linking
- Menu Structure & Placement
- Categorisation of Products & Services
- URL Structure
Why is Structure important in website planning?
Now we understand what Website Structure is, let’s discuss why it is essential within your SEO plan. There is no question that structure and SEO are directly linked. In fact, the structure of your website shows Google which pages on your site are most important. Once you’re equipped with all the knowledge you need to improve your site’s structure, you can then organise your structure in a way that allows your content to rank higher in search engines. The majority of traffic on your site is organic – meaning it comes from search. For you, this means that you need to pay attention to how your website will be perceived. In other words, you need to organise it neatly so you, your visitors and Google can find what they’re looking for. Let’s take a look at reasons why SEO-friendly structure can improve the overall performance of your website:Better Crawling
Website Crawlers or ‘spiders’, essentially search through the structure of your website, indexing your content to determine its ranking in Google. If your structure is easy to navigate, crawlers will index your content or web pages higher in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) for that specific query. Your internal and external links also play a big role in how your structure impacts search engine results. Identifying and monitoring these is the roadmap for web crawlers!Sitelinks
When you make a Google search for a website you’re visiting, as well as the main URL, you will also see site links to internal pages below. These site links are generated by the Google algorithm. Your website structure can directly affect which internal links are seen by visitors in SERPs. A simple and easy site structure can allow you to control which pages are seen. Using appropriate anchor text, having a good title and an insightful description for your pages can improve the results you receive. But how can SiteLinks benefit your website?- Sitelinks can increase your Brand Awareness
- Increase CTR (Click-Through Rates)
- Directs visitors to Internal Pages through SERPs
- Increase Trust Signals between you and the consumer
- User Experience
Topical Relevance
Is your website relevant? Topical Relevance, simply put, implies to search engines what your website is about. If your site is structured efficiently, search engines are able to understand your content and rank it accordingly. The key to relevance is how your web pages are connected to one another. A Pillar Cluster Content Model can be used to help you structure your website properly. This SEO strategy forces the search engine to focus on Topics as opposed to Keywords. Your Pillar pages will cover the main topics while your Cluster pages focus on specific keyword phrases within the topics.Website Design
When planning your website’s structure, you will need to consider the way your web pages are framed. A simple Hierarchy can help you to organise your information efficiently. At the top of your hierarchy will be your homepage. This will then be split into categories or category pages. Subcategories can then be formed from your main category pages.How to build a good Website Structure
Planning Page Hierarchy Page Hierarchy is the way you organise the pages and information on your website. If you’re designing a new site, this structure will be easy to implement from the get-go and is great for SEO Success. Using a Pillar Cluster Model, you will be able to create main categories then map your relevant sub-categories to the main categories. URL Structure The next key factor is URL Structure. Your URL to category and subcategory pages should be simple and clean. Avoid using numbers, underscore and ‘jungle words’ – your URL’s should be easy to understand by both humans and search engines.Examples:
Main URL: https://www.yourdomain.com
Primary Category: https://www.yourdomain.com/resources/
Sub-category: https://www.yourdomain.com/resources/case-studies
Navigation Menus What are your most important pages? Identify these and ensure they’re easy to find and navigate. The user should be able to reach this page with just two clicks!
Topics and Keywords The topics and keywords surrounding your content need to be relevant and structured. Once you identify your primary and secondary keywords you can then begin to structure your content accordingly. Topics covering your primary keywords should be your Pillar Pages and secondary keywords are your Cluster Pages.
Internal Linking Successful and careful internal linking means your website will gain link authority. This means that both the user and crawlers can find your pages and index them. You can create internal links by breadcrumb, navigation and context.
Internal Page Depth Every page on your website is important and crawlers want to search and index every page. You need to ensure both users and crawlers can find the information they need in as few clicks as possible. Providing internal links to all your pages including the most important pages from your homepage is essential and will help you avoid having any orphan pages.