Top 7 Steps To Improve Website Structure in 2022
Website structure refers to how the different pages of a website are interlinked and presented. It's like the architectural plan of a building. It outlines how various website elements such as posts and pages are connected. It also considers links placed in the website’s menu for indexing.
Every website has a structure, but not every structure makes a site effective. Many websites have a haphazard structure due to the improper linkage of elements. Such sites often give visitors a frustrating experience. The better a website’s structure is, the greater its user experience (UX), and the higher it ranks in search engine optimization (SEO).
Top 7 Steps To Upgrade Website Structure
Here is the list of top 7 best steps to improve your website. Without a doubt, a good site structure makes excellent engagements. Besides, it helps crawlers quickly access and index its content. So, it's usually advisable that a lot of intention is put into a website structure. But if you don't know how to do it or where to start, why not begin with the following steps?
1. Integrate A Sitemap
A sitemap is a document that informs site visitors and search engines of how to navigate around the website. With a website sitemap builder software, a website can develop a map that helps search engines understand its structure when crawling.
Aside from that, the map reveals the essential pages to be highly prioritized. Thus, when site engines get a clear snapshot of a site's content through its sitemap, they make it more likely to be found. In short, sites with sitemaps often provide optimized user experience and search engine results.
2. Design A Hierarchy
This is a significant step to take, especially when the website is created from scratch. This allows planning the site's structure in a way that yields the best returns. A hierarchy can be created on spreadsheet programs. It's simply a template that organizes information. It defines and informs a website's navigation structure, making it a critical element of website structuring.
To achieve the best results, your website hierarchy should follow a logical yet straightforward pattern. Its constituent categories should be distinctively organized, and subcategories should align with the primary class under which they're located. The main categories shouldn't be too many while the subcategories in each of them should be kept approximately even.
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With a well-designed site hierarchy, a site stands to have a great structure.
3. Create A Comprehensive Internal Linking Structure
Internal linking is an SEO power strategy, especially when strategically done. It considers how you connect one page to another seamlessly and without frustrating website visitors. The primary purpose is to ease navigation while not compromising SEO rewards.
To create a comprehensive internal linking structure on your website, you have to follow some commandments. One of the instructions is to have enough content on your website. Another is to link considering the preferences of your visitors. Following these instructions not only helps connect to your website correctly but also ensures maximum user interaction.
4. Adopt Minimal Layers Of Clicks Away From The Homepage
This step still boils down to proper internal linking. The nature of links between a site's main page and its subcategories makes or mars a good website. To achieve improved site structure, a website must ensure it doesn't take too many clicks to get to its subpage from the homepage as this can impair a pleasant user experience.
The truth is, most website users prefer that a site has not more than three clicks away from its homepage leading to a subpage. A site structure with more than three clicks can affect website optimization. It does that by making it difficult for users and search engine crawlers to reach subpages buried deep within the site.
Rather than an extended layer of clicks away, a shorter layer makes a website structure more practical.
5. Adopt Short Navigation Options
When the navigation bars are short, users won't have to hunt through several options to find what they're looking for. Therefore, short-navigating web pages from the homepage help users get around the website quickly and pleasurably. Also, the option makes it better for SEO in terms of crawling, boosting traffic and reach.
Read: Why User Experience Matters?
In fact, websites that adopt short navigation options often possess an orderly structure because a lot of intention would have gone into it. Aside from orderliness, they're usually clean and crisp. Such an attraction is needed for maximum engagement.
6. Categorize Content Into Parent Groups
A parent group is a category that encapsulates different content related or linked to one another. For example, a company into baking can create a baking service page that highlights the services it offers to individuals and businesses. This arrangement can include subpages that provide more details about each offered package.
Assigning parent pages improves website structure by preventing a clumsy collation of content. Websites without parent pages often appear flat with hundreds of subpages under a single home page. With this structure, it gives crawlers a hard time determining which pages are most important. It also makes it daunting for visitors to find what they're looking for precisely on the site.
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More so, the performance of the content on the website can’t be easily determined without adhering to this step. However, with a parent category for related posts, things get easier and better.
7. Eliminate Unnecessary Pages
Sites can sometimes get riddled with various pages that have only one item on them, thereby requiring an extra click. These pages often become unnecessary and can become a bad SEO strategy.
Most times, the pages compete with the final destination the site wants its users to get to. This makes the journey take more time for visitors. To avoid this, pages of little or no relevance should be eliminated. Doing so gives the site structure a better user flow and improved search engines with fewer competing pages.
Read: How To Improve Customer Experience With A Better Web Design?
Eventually, the goal is to have a site structure with quick navigation. But this can’t be achieved if there's a conflict of pages.
Conclusion
With an improved site structure, websites can improve search rankings and profit more from user engagements. The steps above will give your website a better format for a more competitive edge.
