When we are first talking to clients about SEO we always talk about website structure, and this can bemuse some people. After all, what does the way your website is laid out have to do with where it resides on the search engine results pages (SERPs)? Quite a lot actually! Not only does a clear website structure help keep visitors on-site, increasing dwell time, but it also makes it easier for the search engines to crawl as well.

When we are looking at the layout of your website, there are certain things we take into account. One of the things we think about is how old your business is, as the structure of your website when you are newly launched, will be very different from when you are more established.  There are several tasks we undertake as well, to ensure your website structure is optimised for both SEO (search engine optimisation) and UX (user experience).

#1 Task One: Keyword Research & Website Mapping

Keyword research isn’t one of those tasks that we do at the start of the campaign and don’t look at again – it is an ongoing task that we will revisit time and time again throughout the life of the campaign. Keywords are essential for adding the right categories and item pages to your site, for developing content that will engage your target customers, and creating landing pages to entice people to your site.

The keyword mapping process is quite complex, but in a nutshell, we will do some competitor research, and brainstorm and highlight categories that best describe your products or services. Once we have a comprehensive list of relevant keywords, we will group the keywords into pages, and then sort the pages so that they make sense in terms of your site hierarchy.

Once we have the basic site structure in place, we will then tackle the task of writing SEO-friendly URLs. We do this by using readable words, using punctuation like hyphens to help make them easier for Google to read, and using keywords (in a natural way). Once this is done, we then move on to looking at the best way to connect the pages.

#2 Task Two: Internal Linking

The process of connecting the pages of your website in an understandable way is called internal linking. If you want to ensure your website navigation is as simple as possible, then this is a critical task. The basic rule says that every page on your site should have a link to another page and be linked from another page. This help’s Google’s bots to crawl your site as they will follow link after link in order to find any new content on your site.

The main tools on your site you can use to help connect your pages are:

  • Menu. Your menu helps users to navigate your site and find the information they want. There are several different types of menu available, and the best way to decide which one is right for your site is to look at user queries and the range of products or services you have on-site. Ideally, you want to focus on a different keyword per page and separate menu item
  • Breadcrumbs. The best way to help your website visitors to understand where they are on your site, and how they got there, is to use a text path which is more commonly known as breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs are additional navigation on the site and they help both the search bots (who use them to help define the importance of the URL in the hierarchy of your site) and users (who can clearly see the hierarchy and return to the category they came from).
  • Footer. The footer is the part of your website where you will place the main links from your top navigation menu. It really helps if they are laid out in the same way and the same order as they are in the top menu. This will help both the user and the bots to navigate your site. You can also place additional links in your footer: the most common ones are Terms of Use, Privacy Policies, FAQ and Testimonials.
  • Finding and Sorting. If you have a lot of services or products on your site, then you need to offer some kind of filtering and sorting options for your users or they will never be able to find what they want. Filters or tags can help to compartmentalise your data easily and save you from having too many categories – which can be just as confusing. Think about using your high-volume keywords for your main website categories and then long-tail keywords for the filter pages.

#3 Task Three: Sitemap

When we are looking at ways to make your site easy to navigate, we are not only thinking about users but also crawlers. The easiest way to help them crawl your site is to provide them with a sitemap. We don’t want to go into too much detail in this article, about what exactly goes into a sitemap (we will cover that in another article) but let’s just say that if you have a sitemap on your site, Google will index your website far quicker than one without a sitemap.

So, now we have taken a closer look at what is involved with creating a good website structure, let’s look at why this is so important. There are three main benefits a good website structure brings:

#1 Benefit One: Better Keyword Rankings & Traffic Growth

When you have a good website structure with smart links, it helps both the search bots and users to clearly understand your website, and so they will spend longer on it. This will mean your dwell time goes up, more pages are viewed on your site per visit, your bounce rate will drop, your rankings will go up and you should see more conversions too.

#2 Benefit Two: Appear in SERP Features

Another benefit associated with a good website structure is that Google may decide to reward you with a featured snippet on their SERPs. These can point users to the most relevant information to them, help users to navigate your site, improve the reputation of your website on the web and also make your website stand out from all the others on the SERPs.

#3 Benefit Three: Happy Users

Having a good website structure will simplify the conversion path for your users and help them to find the information they want, quickly. The easier it is for them to find what they want, the happier they will be.

So, to conclude, building a solid website structure is about user experience and design, and so it is really important to spend time getting this right before your website goes live. If your website is already live, you can still make changes to help enhance your website rankings and SEO overall.

Why is your website structure so important for SEO?

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When we are first talking to clients about SEO we always talk about website structure, and this can bemuse some people. After all, what does the way your website is laid out have to do with where it resides on the search engine results pages (SERPs)? Quite a lot actually! Not only does a clear website structure help keep visitors on-site, increasing dwell time, but it also makes it easier for the search engines to crawl as well.

When we are looking at the layout of your website, there are certain things we take into account. One of the things we think about is how old your business is, as the structure of your website when you are newly launched, will be very different from when you are more established.  There are several tasks we undertake as well, to ensure your website structure is optimised for both SEO (search engine optimisation) and UX (user experience).

#1 Task One: Keyword Research & Website Mapping

Keyword research isn’t one of those tasks that we do at the start of the campaign and don’t look at again – it is an ongoing task that we will revisit time and time again throughout the life of the campaign. Keywords are essential for adding the right categories and item pages to your site, for developing content that will engage your target customers, and creating landing pages to entice people to your site.

The keyword mapping process is quite complex, but in a nutshell, we will do some competitor research, and brainstorm and highlight categories that best describe your products or services. Once we have a comprehensive list of relevant keywords, we will group the keywords into pages, and then sort the pages so that they make sense in terms of your site hierarchy.

Once we have the basic site structure in place, we will then tackle the task of writing SEO-friendly URLs. We do this by using readable words, using punctuation like hyphens to help make them easier for Google to read, and using keywords (in a natural way). Once this is done, we then move on to looking at the best way to connect the pages.

#2 Task Two: Internal Linking

The process of connecting the pages of your website in an understandable way is called internal linking. If you want to ensure your website navigation is as simple as possible, then this is a critical task. The basic rule says that every page on your site should have a link to another page and be linked from another page. This help’s Google’s bots to crawl your site as they will follow link after link in order to find any new content on your site.

The main tools on your site you can use to help connect your pages are:

  • Menu. Your menu helps users to navigate your site and find the information they want. There are several different types of menu available, and the best way to decide which one is right for your site is to look at user queries and the range of products or services you have on-site. Ideally, you want to focus on a different keyword per page and separate menu item
  • Breadcrumbs. The best way to help your website visitors to understand where they are on your site, and how they got there, is to use a text path which is more commonly known as breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs are additional navigation on the site and they help both the search bots (who use them to help define the importance of the URL in the hierarchy of your site) and users (who can clearly see the hierarchy and return to the category they came from).
  • Footer. The footer is the part of your website where you will place the main links from your top navigation menu. It really helps if they are laid out in the same way and the same order as they are in the top menu. This will help both the user and the bots to navigate your site. You can also place additional links in your footer: the most common ones are Terms of Use, Privacy Policies, FAQ and Testimonials.
  • Finding and Sorting. If you have a lot of services or products on your site, then you need to offer some kind of filtering and sorting options for your users or they will never be able to find what they want. Filters or tags can help to compartmentalise your data easily and save you from having too many categories – which can be just as confusing. Think about using your high-volume keywords for your main website categories and then long-tail keywords for the filter pages.

#3 Task Three: Sitemap

When we are looking at ways to make your site easy to navigate, we are not only thinking about users but also crawlers. The easiest way to help them crawl your site is to provide them with a sitemap. We don’t want to go into too much detail in this article, about what exactly goes into a sitemap (we will cover that in another article) but let’s just say that if you have a sitemap on your site, Google will index your website far quicker than one without a sitemap.

So, now we have taken a closer look at what is involved with creating a good website structure, let’s look at why this is so important. There are three main benefits a good website structure brings:

#1 Benefit One: Better Keyword Rankings & Traffic Growth

When you have a good website structure with smart links, it helps both the search bots and users to clearly understand your website, and so they will spend longer on it. This will mean your dwell time goes up, more pages are viewed on your site per visit, your bounce rate will drop, your rankings will go up and you should see more conversions too.

#2 Benefit Two: Appear in SERP Features

Another benefit associated with a good website structure is that Google may decide to reward you with a featured snippet on their SERPs. These can point users to the most relevant information to them, help users to navigate your site, improve the reputation of your website on the web and also make your website stand out from all the others on the SERPs.

#3 Benefit Three: Happy Users

Having a good website structure will simplify the conversion path for your users and help them to find the information they want, quickly. The easier it is for them to find what they want, the happier they will be.

So, to conclude, building a solid website structure is about user experience and design, and so it is really important to spend time getting this right before your website goes live. If your website is already live, you can still make changes to help enhance your website rankings and SEO overall.