SEO and Site Structure

Site structure is a critical aspect of web design. Not only is it a client's first impression of you and your brand, but it also matters to ensure your website's visibility. 

Site structure involves organizing and arranging a website's pages and content, but it goes beyond that. It establishes the information hierarchy within the site and acts as a roadmap for search engine crawlers. 

A well-structured site enhances user experience, facilitates easy navigation, and aids search engines like Google in comprehending and effectively indexing the site's content. An optimized site structure improves rankings, increased traffic, and higher conversion rates.

This article covers what you need to know for SEO and site structure. Let's get started.

Importance for User Experience

The structure of your website plays a pivotal role in shaping the user experience (UX). If visitors cannot easily find the products or information they seek, they are less likely to become regular visitors or customers. 

It is crucial to assist users in navigating your site effectively. A well-structured site simplifies this process, ensuring visitors can quickly comprehend your content and offerings.

Importance for SEO

A robust site structure significantly boosts your chances of ranking well in search engines. Here are three key reasons.

Enhanced Understanding by Search Engines

How you structure your site provides valuable cues to search engines like Google about where to locate the most helpful content. It enables search engines to understand the primary focus of your site or what you are selling. An effective site structure helps search engines locate and index content swiftly, potentially leading to higher rankings.

Avoiding Keyword Cannibalization

Sometimes, you might have multiple blog posts or pages covering similar topics on your site. This can confuse search engines and lead to high rankings competition among your content. To mitigate this issue, you need an explicit internal linking and taxonomy structure to specify the most important pages.

Managing Changes

Websites evolve. Products change and new content is added while old content becomes outdated. It's crucial to ensure that search engines don't display obsolete products or deleted blog posts. Your site structure should be flexible enough to accommodate these changes.

Ideal Site Structure

A well-organized website typically resembles a pyramid with several levels.

• Homepage: At the top, you have the homepage, which acts as the central hub for navigation.
• Categories (or Sections): Below the homepage, you have main sections or categories, which serve as primary content groupings. Your content should fall under one of these categories.
• Subcategories (for Larger Sites): You can further divide sections or categories into subcategories for larger websites.
• Individual Pages and Posts: Individual pages and posts are at the pyramid's base.

Your homepage should link the most critical pages, guiding visitors and search engines to crucial content.

Navigation

An effective site-wide navigation strategy consists of two main components.

Menu

Your website menu is a standard tool for navigation and should reflect the structure of your site's categories or sections. Be cautious not to overcrowd the menu with too many links, as this can overwhelm visitors.

Breadcrumb Trail 

Breadcrumbs, typically placed at the top of a page or post, help visitors understand their location within your site's structure. They are beneficial for enhancing the user experience and SEO.

Taxonomies

Content management systems, like WordPress, use taxonomies to group related content. Two standard taxonomies are categories and tags.

Categories

Divide your blog posts or products into categories, which can be further subdivided into subcategories for clarity. Categories help both users and search engines understand your content's organization.

Tags

Tags are used to highlight specific attributes or topics related to your content. They provide an additional layer of categorization. However, avoid creating too many tags; ensure they group genuinely associated articles.

Contextual Internal Linking

Internal linking within your content is crucial for site structure. Contextual internal links are links within your articles or pages that direct users to other relevant pages within your site. To understand page content and relationships, Google uses these links, anchor text, and surrounding content. Properly implemented contextual internal linking can help boost SEO.

Landing Pages

Landing pages are essential for directing visitors to specific content based on their search intent. There are two primary types of landing pages:

Cornerstone Content Pages

These comprehensive, informational articles aim to provide the most detailed information on a specific topic. They are not primarily for selling products but for educating and informing your audience.

Product Landing Pages

These pages focus on showcasing and selling products. They should be concise and tailored to convince visitors to make a purchase.

Understanding the search intent behind user queries is essential for effectively structuring your landing pages.

Maintaining Your Site Structure

Site structure is not a one-time task; it requires ongoing maintenance.

Evaluate Your Menu

When your business goals or website focus changes, update your menu to reflect these shifts. Creating a visual flowchart can help plan these changes effectively.

Rethink Taxonomies

Periodically review your categories and tags to ensure they accurately represent your content. You may need to split or merge categories based on performance and relevance.

Clean Up Outdated Content

Identify and update or republish outdated articles to maintain their relevance. If particular articles are no longer helpful, redirect them to related content to avoid 404 errors.

Site structure is a fundamental aspect of web design and SEO that directly impacts user experience and rankings. 

By understanding the importance of SEO and site structure and following best practices, you can create an organized, user-friendly website that performs well in search results.