Many elements of optimizing your website are “behind the scenes,” but how you structure your website is front and center. Website structure not only impacts how search engines rank your site but also how users experience it.
One of the structures recommended by Google — a silo structure — can benefit your site in a variety of tangible ways. This structure not only organizes your content, making it easy for customers to find the products or services they need, but also provides context for each page of your site to search engines. A multi-purpose tool, a strong silo structure is essential for proving your site has the authority and expertise to address popular search queries.
Creating a silo structure involves separating content into categories, i.e. silos, based on the theme of your website and search queries you want to rank for. Each category should have a main topic page and supporting pages, which can include blog posts, service pages or any other related content. An effective silo structure can increase your ranking on search result pages, how long users spend on your site and how often visitors to your site become customers.
Related: Here’s the SEO Combination You Need to Win Google’s Algorithm
Four benefits of a silo structure
Here are four benefits of using a silo structure for your website:
1. Improves indexability
A silo structure makes your site easily understandable to search engine crawlers. When crawlers can easily understand the relevance and organization of your website, your pages will rank higher in search results.
2. Builds relevance and authority
Having multiple pages that clearly support one topic establishes relevance and authority within your industry. When relevant pages are grouped under a single category, this demonstrates to search engines that your website has multiple pieces of content about that product or service. When properly organized, a silo structure helps boost your rankings within your industry.
3. Improves user experience
A silo structure improves user experience by making your services and products easy to find since relevant content is grouped together under main headings and should all link back to category landing pages. This structure has clear SEO benefits as well; it improves click-through rates, reduces bounce rate and improves rankings. Simply put, a silo structure means that users are more likely to spend longer on your site, increasing the chance that they will become customers.
4. Streamlines content creation
A silo structure makes it easier for your content team to organize new content and identify content gaps. This version of website architecture gives your team a clear road map for building an authoritative, organized site full of high-quality content.
Related: 9 SEO Tips to Help You Rank No. 1 on Google in 2024
Four steps for creating a silo structure
Creating a silo structure involves carefully evaluating your content and organizing it so that more content can be added easily. Here are four steps for getting started.
1. Determine theme
Determining the theme involves evaluating the pages of your website that are already ranking and the keywords and search queries you need to rank for. If you are a business, your theme should center around your main products or services.
2. Categorize content
Drawing on your theme and keyword research, develop silos for your website. Each silo should be a thematic group that revolves around one idea. If you are a service provider, for example, a repair company or contractor, each silo might revolve around one specific type of project or repair that you offer. If you are selling products, you may need to sort products into categories to create silos. Each category should have its own landing page aimed at popular search queries. Having a landing page optimized for each category with strong supporting pages will build your website’s expertise and authority for relevant keywords.
3. Create visual silos
The silo structure of your content should be clearly visible on your website. At Outpace, we frequently implement a toolbar or menu that links to the main page of each category. The toolbar also features dropdown menus indicating relevant content for each silo. This makes it easy for users to access any page directly from your homepage. The structure of your website’s URLs should also incorporate this silo structure, making it easy for users and search engines to navigate through your site. You should link between pages in a silo to establish relevance. You may choose to link to content in another silo, but this should only happen if the content is significantly relevant.
4. Optimize content and navigation
It’s crucial that each page in your silos has high-quality content optimized for specific keywords. This will help individual pages, as well as your overall website, rank higher in search engines. Optimizing a silo structure also means making the site easy to navigate, both on a desktop or mobile device. Using breadcrumb navigation, navigation that shows users exactly where in the silo structure they are, is one of the best ways to optimize your website’s structure and user experience. This allows users to easily find their way back to main landing pages or continue exploring a single silo, improving click-through rates.
Related: Don’t Ignore the Importance of Your Site’s URL Structure
Whether you are reorganizing your website to improve SEO or designing one for the first time, consider using a silo structure to keep content organized and boost indexability. Silo structures are popular for a reason; they are easy for users to navigate and have a positive impact on search rankings as well. With a silo structure, it’s easy to establish where new content belongs, create optimized URls and maintain an organized site. Follow these simple steps to improve your website architecture and optimize your website or simply hire an SEO agency who has the expertise to help.
