Improve Your Website Structure for SEO: 7 Easy Steps to Boost Rankings

Let me break it down for you:

• Search engines are like picky eaters. They crave a clean, logical structure to efficiently crawl and index your content.
• Users are impatient. The average visitor will leave your site in less than 15 seconds if they can't find what they're looking for. Poor structure equals poor user experience, and that's a conversion killer.

In this guide, I will walk you through the essential steps to transform your website's structure. With the right approach, this can be one of the most impactful and cost-effective SEO moves you can make.

We'll cover crucial aspects of website optimization and on-page SEO to ensure your site meets SEO best practices.

Step 1: Conduct a Website Structure Audit

Before improving your website's structure, you must know exactly what you're working with.

Starting with an audit helps you see your website through the lens of a new visitor or a search engine. It pinpoints where your structure supports a positive user experience and SEO and where it falls short.

Understanding these aspects allows you to make informed decisions that lead to effective enhancements.

How do you conduct your audit?

Choose the Right Tools

Here are some popular tools that will help you to conduct a thorough SEO audit.

• Google Search Console: Ideal for understanding how Google views your site. It helps identify crawl errors, sitemap status, and security issues that might affect your site’s performance.
• Screaming Frog SEO Spider: Use this to crawl your website as a search engine would. It provides a clear picture of your site’s URLs, page titles, meta descriptions, and headings structure.

As you review the crawl data, focus on these key areas:

• Site Depth: Check how many clicks it takes to reach each page from your homepage. Pages buried too deep may not be getting the attention they deserve.
• URL Structure: Examine your URLs for clarity and consistency. They should be descriptive and reflect your site's hierarchy.
• Internal Linking: Analyze how your pages link to each other. Look for pages with too few or too many internal links.
• Orphaned Pages: Identify any pages not linked from elsewhere on your site.
• Content Duplication: Flag any pages with identical or very similar content.

This thorough examination is a key part of a comprehensive site audit, crucial for improving your SEO website structure.

As you go through this process, create a spreadsheet or document to record your findings.

Note down any issues you encounter, no matter how small they seem. This audit will serve as your roadmap for improving the following steps.

Tip: Don't rush this step. A thorough audit might take time, especially if you have a large site, but it's absolutely crucial.

Organize issues by their impact on SEO

Not all structural problems are created equal; some will significantly impact your SEO and user experience more than others. Here's how to organize and prioritize your findings:

Create a priority matrix with four quadrants:

1. High SEO Impact / High User Experience Impact
2. High SEO Impact / Low User Experience Impact
3. Low SEO Impact / High User Experience Impact
4. Low SEO Impact / Low User Experience Impact

When you organize your issues this way, you can focus on the problems that will yield the greatest returns.

First, tackle the issues in the "High SEO Impact / High User Experience Impact" quadrant. Resolving these will significantly improve your site's performance and usability.

Step 2: Streamline Site Navigation and Address High-Impact Structure Issues

Your audit likely revealed several high-impact issues affecting SEO and user experience.

Address these first to streamline your site navigation.

Start by identifying pages that are more than four clicks from your homepage. Both users and search engines often overlook these deep pages.

To address this:

• Review your site hierarchy and look for opportunities to bring important pages closer to the homepage.
• Consider creating new category or hub pages to group related deep content.
• Update your main navigation to include links to key sections, reducing the clicks needed to reach important pages.

Your navigation menu serves as the primary roadmap for both users and search engines, guiding them through your site's structure.

The second thing is to rescue orphaned content.

Orphaned content is pages that are not linked anywhere else on your site. These are essentially invisible.

For instance, a few months ago, you wrote a detailed blog post about the benefits of natural ingredients over synthetic ones. However, as you updated the site's structure and navigation over time, this particular blog post was accidentally left out of the updated blog index page and is no longer linked from any category or tag pages. As a result, it has become "orphaned."

To fix this:

• Identify all orphaned pages from your audit.
• Determine which of these pages are valuable and should be kept.
• Integrate these pages into the structure of your website by adding internal links from relevant existing pages.
• Consider adding some of these pages to your main navigation or footer if they're particularly important.

This approach will significantly improve your site's SEO performance and overall user experience.

Remember, the goal is to create a logical, easy-to-navigate structure that efficiently guides users and search engines to your most important content.

This approach is fundamental to creating an SEO friendly website design that enhances both user experience and search engine visibility.

Step 3: Enhance Internal Linking

Developing a robust internal linking strategy is a crucial aspect of technical SEO that can significantly boost your site's performance.

Effective internal linking helps search engines discover new pages and significantly boosts your site's authority by distributing page authority across your website.

Internal links are your website's highways, guiding users and search engines through your content and establishing an information hierarchy.

Start by mapping out your most important content that should gain more visibility and linking it from relevant pages.

For instance, if you have cornerstone content like detailed guides or a series of related articles, ensure these are prominently linked from your homepage or main navigation areas.

Key points to focus on while enhancing internal links:

• Anchor Texts: Use descriptive, keyword-rich anchor texts that clearly indicate the content linked. This not only improves SEO but also aids users in navigating your website effectively.
• Link Placement: Strategic link placement is crucial. Links placed within the main body of a webpage are typically more effective than those in footers or sidebars. Aim to integrate links naturally within the content, where they provide value and context to the reader.

To effectively implement improved internal linking, thoroughly review your existing links and identify areas where more connections could be beneficial.

If your website is a tech blog and you’re looking to build links around content related to “cybersecurity,” go on Google and search:

site:yourwebsite.com "cybersecurity"

This search will list all the pages on your website that mention the term “cybersecurity.” It’s a powerful way to see all your content on a particular topic quickly.

Review the pages that appear in the search results. Look for:

• High-value pages that you want to drive more traffic to.
• Under-linked pages that are important but currently lack sufficient internal links.
• Related content that provides additional value or context to the topic.

Once you have identified potential internal linking pages, plan where and how you will add these links to your content. Consider the following:

• Contextual relevance: Ensure the links you add are relevant to the page's context. For example, if you have an article about “Cybersecurity Trends in 2024,” it could be beneficial to link to articles on related subtopics like “Best Cybersecurity Tools” or “How to Prevent Cyber Attacks.”
• Anchor text: Use descriptive and relevant anchor text for your links. This helps with SEO and informs users about what to expect when they click the link.

Add the planned internal links to your pages. Once the links are live, monitor the impact on your site’s traffic and page performance.

Step 4: Optimize for Mobile Users

As of July 2024, mobile internet traffic accounts for almost 60% of total web traffic.

Google's mobile-first indexing also means that the mobile version of your site is now the primary version considered for ranking and indexing.

Start by assessing your current mobile experience. Use Google's Mobile-Friendly Test tool to get an overview of your site's performance on mobile devices. This tool will highlight any immediate issues that need addressing, such as text that's too small to read or content wider than the screen.

Next, focus on your site's responsive design. Ensure that your website's layout automatically adjusts to fit different screen sizes.

Creating a truly mobile-friendly site goes beyond just responsive design. It involves optimizing touch elements, improving readability on smaller screens, and ensuring that all functionalities work smoothly on mobile devices.

Additionally, page speed is particularly critical for mobile users, who are often on slower connections and have less patience for slow-loading sites. Use the data you got from Google's Mobile-Friendly Test tool to improve your site's loading times.

Website speed optimization is crucial for user experience and SEO, especially on mobile devices.

Common recommendations include:

• Optimizing images
• Leveraging browser caching
• Minimizing code

Step 5: Structure URLs for SEO

A clear, concise, and descriptive URL can significantly improve your site’s visibility and click-through rates from search results.

Start by reviewing your current URL structure. Look for unnecessarily long URLs containing random numbers or parameters or URLs that don't reflect the page's content.

Your goal is to create URLs that are concise, descriptive, and easy to read.

When structuring your URLs, follow these standard rules:

• Use hyphens (-) to separate words instead of underscores (_) or spaces. This is the standard practice that search engines prefer. Keep your URLs as short as possible while still being descriptive. Avoid using stop words like "and," "the," or "of" unless they're necessary for the URL to make sense.
• Incorporate relevant keywords into your URLs, but do so naturally. The URL should accurately reflect the content of the page. For example, if you have a page about "best coffee makers for home use," a good URL structure might be "/kitchen-appliances/coffee-makers/best-for-home".
• Develop a standard format for similar types of pages across your site. For instance, all product pages could follow the "/category/subcategory/product-name" structure. This consistency helps users and search engines understand the relationship between different pages on your site.
• If you're changing existing URLs, set up 301 redirects from the old URLs to the new ones. This preserves any SEO value the old URLs had and ensures that users clicking on old links will still reach the correct page.

Step 7: Organize Content into Silos

Organizing content into silos is an advanced SEO strategy that groups related content together to improve target keyword relevance and enhance the authority of your website on specific topics.

This approach makes your website more user-friendly by logically organizing related information. It also enhances your site's SEO by clearly defining content themes that search engines can easily understand and index.

Content silos help to establish a clear site structure that mimics a hierarchical filing system.

To begin organizing your content into silos, start by identifying your main topics or themes. These will form the basis of your top-level categories.

For example, if you run a fitness website, your main silos might include "Nutrition," "Workouts," and "Wellness."

Under each of these main categories, create subcategories that further break down the topic. For instance, under "Nutrition," you might have subcategories like "Meal Plans," "Recipes," and "Supplements."

Once you've established your silo structure, audit your existing content and assign each piece to the appropriate silo.

As you do this, ensure that your URL structure reflects this silo organization, with each URL clearly indicating the content's place in the hierarchy.

Remember that while content silos can significantly improve your site's structure and SEO, they should still allow for some flexibility. Don't force content into a silo if it doesn't fit naturally.

Implementing a well-structured SEO site hierarchy through content silos can significantly improve your site's topical authority and search engine rankings.

Step 6: Implement Structured Data

Structured data, often called schema markup, helps search engines understand the content on your pages.

It can result in richer search results, such as enhanced snippets with stars, prices, or availability, which can increase visibility and click-through rates.

Structured data adds context to your website content by explicitly categorizing and labeling the information. This data helps search engines quickly parse and understand what your content is about, which can influence how your site is indexed and ranked.

To begin implementing structured data, first familiarize yourself with Schema.org, the collaborative community that creates, maintains, and promotes schemas for structured data.

Then here is how you’ll implement structured data:

Identify Appropriate Schema Types

Determine which types of structured data are relevant to your website’s content. Common schema types include Article, Product, Event, Organization, and Person. Choose the schema that best represents your content to improve its presentation in search results.

Use Tools to Generate Schema Markup

Use Google's Structured Data Markup Helper to create the correct schema markup. This tool guides you through the process of selecting data types and generating the appropriate HTML code.

Integrate Schema Markup into Your Web Pages

Once you have your schema markup, integrate it into your web pages' HTML. This integration is usually done in the head section of the HTML for general website information or in line with specific content that the schema describes.

Test Your Implementation

After integrating structured data into your site, use tools like Google's Rich Results Test to verify that Google can correctly read and display the structured data. This tool will also highlight any issues with your markup that may prevent it from being displayed as a rich snippet.

Note: Ensure the structured data you implement accurately represents the page content. Misleading or incorrect data can result in search engine penalties.

Step 7: Maintain and Update Website Structure Regularly

Finally, to ensure your site continues to perform optimally for both users and search engines, you need to regularly maintain and update its structure.

This ongoing process helps you adapt to changes in user behavior, search engine algorithms, and your own business needs.

Start by establishing a regular schedule for auditing your website structure. Depending on the size and complexity of your site, this could be monthly, quarterly, or bi-annually.

During these audits, review your site's performance metrics using Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Look for pages with high bounce rates, low engagement, or declining search visibility.

These could be indicators that your structure needs adjustment.

During these reviews, pay close attention to your site's navigation and internal linking structure.

As you add new content or products, ensure they're properly integrated into your existing structure. This will involve updating your main navigation, adding new categories, or adjusting your content silos.

Additionally, when changing URLs, always implement 301 redirects from the old URLs to the new ones to preserve SEO value and user experience.

• Key areas to monitor: Navigation, internal linking, broken links, URL structure
• Tools to use: Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Screaming Frog

As search engines evolve, so too should your approach to structured data.

Pro Tip: Before fully implementing structural changes, conduct A/B testing to see how these affect user interaction and SEO. Use the insights gained to make informed decisions about permanent updates.

Conclusion: Boost Your SEO with a Strategic Site Structure

Each step—from auditing your site to implementing structured data—aligns your site more closely with the best practices that govern successful SEO and user-friendly design.

By following these SEO tips and optimizing your website architecture for SEO, you'll be well on your way to improving your site's search engine visibility and user experience.

However, the work doesn't stop with implementation. The digital world's dynamic nature requires a responsive approach, where regular updates and adjustments are made in harmony with new SEO trends, technological advancements, and shifting user preferences.

For many, this auditing and optimization might seem daunting.

At Market Me More, we specialize in SEO audits and setups tailored to dissect and reconstruct your website’s architecture for optimum performance.

Moreover, our expertise in content and copywriting ensures that once visitors land on your well-structured site, they are greeted with engaging and valuable content that encourages them to explore further.

Contact us today, and let’s help you build a high-value site structure that boosts SEO results.