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Much of website optimization goes behind the scenes, but the most vital thing is the structure of your website. The structure of your website affects not only your website’s position in serps, but also how users use it.
One of the really helpful structures by Google — silo structure — can bring many tangible advantages to your website. This structure not only organizes your content, making it easier for customers to find the products or services they need, but it also provides serps with context for each page of your website. A multi-tasking tool with a strong silo structure is essential to prove that your website has the authority and expertise essential to answer popular queries.
Creating a silo structure involves dividing your content into categories, or silos, based on the topic of your site and the queries you wish to rank for. Each category should have a important topic page and supporting pages, which can include blog posts, service pages, or other related content. An effective silo structure can increase your position in search engine results pages, the time users spend on your site, and the frequency with which your site visitors turn out to be customers.
Four benefits of silo construction
Here are 4 advantages of using a silo structure on your website:
1. Improves indexability
The silo structure makes your website easily comprehensible by search engine robots. When web crawlers can easily understand the importance and organization of your site, your pages will rank higher in search results.
2. Builds meaning and authority
Having multiple pages that clearly support one topic provides relevance and authority in your industry. When relevant pages are grouped into one category, it tells serps that your site has a lot of content about that product or service. A properly organized silo structure helps increase your rankings in your industry.
3. Improves user experience
A silo structure improves the user experience by making services and products easier to find because relevant content is grouped under important headings and should all link to category landing pages. This structure also has clear search engine marketing advantages; improves click-through rates, reduces bounce rates, and improves rankings. Simply put, a silo structure implies that users are more likely to spend longer on your site, which increases the likelihood that they may turn out to be customers.
4. Improves content creation
A silo structure makes it easier for the content team to organize latest content and discover content gaps. This version of website architecture gives your team a clear roadmap for building a credible, organized website stuffed with high-quality content.
Four steps to creating a silo structure
Creating a silo structure requires fastidiously assessing your content and organizing it so that more content will be easily added. Here are 4 steps to get began.
1. Define the topic
Determining your topic involves evaluating the pages on your site that are already rating and the keywords and queries you wish to rank for. If you run a business, your topic should focus on your important products or services.
2. Categorize your content
Based on topic and keyword research, create silos for your website. Each silo should constitute a thematic group focused around one idea. If you are a service provider, similar to a repair company or contractor, each silo could also be associated with one specific variety of project or repair offered. If you sell products, you might need to sort your products into categories to create silos. Each category should have its own landing page targeted at popular queries. Having a landing page optimized for each category with strong supporting pages will strengthen your site’s knowledge and authority for relevant keywords.
3. Create visual silos
The silo structure of content needs to be clearly visible on your website. At Outpace, we frequently implement a toolbar or menu that links to the home page of each category. The toolbar also includes drop-down menus indicating the appropriate contents of each silo. This makes it easy for users to access any page directly from the home page. Your website’s URL structure must also take this silo structure into account, making it easier for users and serps to navigate your site. To establish relevancy, you wish to create links between pages in a silo. You can select to link to content in a different silo, but this could only be done if the content is significantly relevant.
4. Optimize content and navigation
It is very necessary that each page in your silos incorporates high-quality content optimized for specific keywords. This will help individual pages, in addition to the website as a whole, rank higher in serps. Optimizing your silo structure also means making your site easier to navigate, each on desktop and mobile devices. Using breadcrumb navigation that shows users exactly where they are in the silo structure is one of the best ways to optimize your site structure and user experience. This allows users to easily find their way back to important landing pages or proceed browsing a single silo, improving click-through rates.
Whether you are reorganizing your site to improve search engine marketing or designing it for the first time, think about using a silo structure to organize your content and increase its indexability. Silo designs are popular for a reason; they are easy to navigate and have a positive impact on search rankings. With a siled structure, it’s easy to work out where latest content should go, create optimized URLs, and keep your site organized. Follow these easy steps to improve your website architecture and optimize it, or simply hire an search engine marketing agency that has the expertise to assist you.