How to design an SEO-friendly Website structure?

Nobody likes to wait long or feel lost while seeking for information online in today’s fast-paced world. As a result, as a marketer, it is critical to build your website in an easy-to-navigate manner in order to keep your audience’s attention. And it is site structure that we shall discuss today.

What is Website Structure?

Website Structure
Website Structure

The way your website is constructed, or how multiple sections on your website are integrated for an optimal user experience, is referred to as site structure or website architecture. This is significant not just from the standpoint of the user, but also in terms of search engine optimization.

What are the types of website structure?

types of website structure
types of website structure

Hierarchical Model

This is the most popular and preferred structure for a website. This is also known as a tree structure, in which a parent page contains a broad collection of information that is further divided into child pages that provide more specific information.

Sequential Model

This allows the user to explore in a sequential fashion, as the name implies. The user can only navigate forward or backward in this mode.

ALSO READ: Types of Sitemap in SEO

Matrix Model

This was a common expression in the early days of the internet. It presented the user with a number of relevant links organised by topic, allowing them to choose where they wanted to go next.

Database Model

This is a dynamic website architecture that combines a database and a search. Users can create experiences depending on their search query using this website framework.

What is the importance of Website structure?

importance of Website structure
importance of Website structure

A smooth user experience

UXUI-DESIGN
UXUI-DESIGN

Users will want to spend more time on your website if it is appealing and informative, with easy navigation, boosting dwell time and minimising bounce time. This, in turn, tells Google that your website is a great result to provide for a search query, perhaps boosting your rankings.

Good site structure can get you sitelinks

On a SERP, sitelinks display your website’s most significant pages. These provide a significant SEO benefit, as they can increase clickthrough rates, improve your brand’s reputation, and help you rank higher in SERPs. Sitelinks are awarded by Google to websites that have a well-structured website. You can’t add a sitelink on your own right now.

Improved Crawling

crawling
crawling

Not only users, but crawlers will benefit from a well-designed website structure with effective internal linking because it will allow them to discover relevant pages.

Prevents from competing with your website

It’s possible that you’ve published several blog entries about the same subject. If your site is properly designed, you can prevent having rival webpages and keyword cannibalism.

seo-tools
seo-tools

How to design an SEO-friendly website structure?

Strategize before you start

The greatest way to do things is to plan them out first. Draw a basic sketch of how your website should look with a pen and paper. You can create a list of important sites, categories, and products. This can assist you in better comprehending the skeletal system of your website.

If you’re building a new website, it’s a good idea to start thinking about SEO tactics as early as the design stage. It’s critical to pick the correct website model in this case. It may appear simple to design a flat site structure in which all pages are simply one click away from your main page. When asked about the flat site structure, however, John Mueller responded as follows:

“In general, I’d be wary about creating a situation in which typical website navigation is broken. So, merely by following the links on the page, we should be able to crawl from one URL to another on your website.”

He’s implying that a flat website structure can generate crawling issues and navigational difficulties for users. He went on to say:

“If it isn’t achievable, we’ll be missing out on a lot of circumstances. So, if we’re only seeing these URLs through your sitemap file, we have no idea how they’re related to one another, which makes it difficult for us to determine how relevant this piece of material is in the context of your website.”

John’s statement demonstrates how a hierarchical site structure aids Google’s understanding of your website.

Website Symmetry is important

When you take away the colours, fonts, kernel, graphics, and photos from a website, what’s left is a good website structure. The user may find it rewarding to maintain symmetry in the structure. Keep the number of categories in each category between 2 and 7, and try to add an equal number of sub-categories to each. Your website will not appear unbalanced if it is symmetrical.

URL structure

Importance of url structure in SEO
Importance of url structure in SEO

The page hierarchy should be followed in the URL structure. This won’t be a problem if you already have a strong website structure. Pay special attention to the word’slug.’ The URL’s tail end is referred to as a slug. Using a readable name in the slug instead of the page’s ID number makes it easier for crawlers and people to read and understand the page’s content.

Internal Linking

Proper internal linking
Proper internal linking

Internal linking is an important SEO method that allows you to link one page of your website to another. This improves the user experience by allowing users to visit crucial sites with fewer clicks. A good internal linking strategy can aid in a smooth flow of link juice within the domain. As a result, your website will rank higher in the SERPs.

W3C Validation

Validation by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is a process that checks your website’s HTML and XHTML documents for conformance with well-formed markup. W3C validation verifies that the site functions consistently across all browsers.

Use suitable JavaScript framework along with HTML and CSS

The safest approaches for designing your website are HTML and CSS. Using JavaScript, on the other hand, can make your site more enticing to users. For your website, you’ll need to employ a JavaScript framework that’s appropriate. The Google Evergreen bot allows the crawler to render over 1000 web platform capabilities that it previously couldn’t, making SEO easier.

Conclusion

The structure of a website is the result of careful planning and arrangement. It is an important part of SEO and should be completed prior to the launch of your website. If your website is already up and running, you can always tweak the design and improve the structural organisation for better SEO.

It can make navigation easier for both users and crawlers. So, don’t be hesitant to put in the time and effort necessary to establish an SEO-friendly website.

Consider the tips above when building your site, and let us know how it went.

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