Digital marketers have always emphasised on the need to research keywords and associated keywords for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). However, it is important not to neglect how each page is connected to another as well. This is where a logical website structure comes into play. Today’s post is on the five ways your website structure can affect SEO.
#1. Website hierarchy
Have you ensured that your website is organised in a logical manner?
A messy website not only confuses search engine crawlers–it confuses your users as well. The idea is to make it as easy as possible for the search engine robot to crawl your website–there should not be dead-ends on pages, resulting in your reader feeling “trapped”. Your URL structure will follow your logical site hierarchy. For example, the URL structure for the Smart Men’s Shoes would look like this:
http://www.buyshoes.com/men/smartshoes instead of http://www.buyshoes.com/13957426 .
A benefit of having URLs that follow a logical site hierarchy is that the URL contains actual words that make sense to the user. This would then ensure appropriate keywords coverage for SEO.
#2. How your URL looks like
According to Quicksprout the ideal URL length usually ranges from 36-38 characters. Therefore, avoid trying to have a URL that is too long or too short.
Also, avoid having URLs with symbols and characters like %, (, #, @ or *. These characters make it extremely hard for search engines to crawl the website. Using underscores in your URL will help make two words into one word, and using dashes in between words will separate the words since spaces are not allowed in URLs.
As much as possible, make your URLs easy to read and understandable to the user, because this usually means that they are search engine optimised too.
#3. Internal Links
Internal links always value-add a logical web hierarchy. This is because they help users see the relationship between one page and the other, and also helps provide a macro view of the site navigation. In addition, internal linking provides keyword-rich anchors, thereby allowing search engines to easily find other pages on your website.
Because of this, the page depth is also increased, as well as user’s engagement.
Internal links also tell the search engines what pages are important, and how to get there. The more internal linking you have across all pages, the better.
#4. User experience
Search engines collect data on user behavior– for this reason, if the bounce rate to your website on the first click is high, the search engine would rank it lower. This is because after the search engine collects relevant data, the search ranking of the pages will be sorted such according to relevance to the user.
Very often, a badly designed or structured website lacks the navigation bar. There are no relevant headings of value offering or relevant keyword phrases, and visitors are lost. A website with a badly designed navigation bar will confuse the user and result in negative user experience. Therefore, be sure to always align your user’s expectations with their click-throughs.
Here, also try to avoid using images in large sizes all over the site in a haphazard order, because these increase your loading time and subsequently your bounce rates.
All in all, design your website structure well and you will have a more pleasant user experience.
#5. Duplicated pages
As much as possible, try to avoid duplicated pages as search engines might regard them as spam. Be sure to always use unique and engaging content on each of the pages you host, so as to have good results on SEO.
As much as possible, try not to duplicate content on your website.
We hope you have enjoyed today’s post! Be sure to design your website structure before publishing for it is the very foundation of your online success!
