What is Website Architecture
Website architecture organizes your website pages through navigation, categories, content, and elements. A well-laid-out website architecture aims to make all the information accessible to the readers. It is important to have a correctly laid out website architecture because:
- It helps Google and other search engines crawl your website, resulting in indexing and ranking pages.
- It helps users find the right information without the risk of bouncing off and ensures a seamless user experience
- It has a direct impact on SEO as correctly laid out navigation means all pages are linked and are getting link juice
An easy way to understand website architecture is to compare it to a shopping mall.
Homepage: The homepage acts as the entrance to the website, providing an overview and directing visitors to different sections, much like a mall entrance that guides shoppers to various stores.
Category Pages: Category pages function like store directories, categorizing content into sections (e.g., electronics, clothing) similar to how a mall directory groups stores by type.
Navigation Menus: Navigation menus are like the mall’s signage, helping users seamlessly move from one section to another.
Individual Pages: Individual content pages serve specific needs or interests, akin to individual stores within the mall catering to different shopping preferences.
Friendly Vs Non-friendly SEO Website Architecture
As mentioned in the earlier section, the objective is for the information to be easily accessible as such it is important to keep the architecture as simple as it is possible.
A disorganized website architecture will result in frustrated users unable to find information and bounce away from the website. The objective is to keep a user on the website as time spent on a website is a user signal for search engine rankings.
Let us give you two examples and see which one will serve the user’s purpose more.
From a user perspective, if you are trying to buy health insurance, which option from easier navigation will you choose?
Best Practices to create SEO- friendly website architecture
Navigation Links:
One of the best ways to define architecture is to define your categories and sub-categories and add them to the top-level menu. These category links should also feature on the page and link to inner website pages
This allows a user to quickly browse and jump to the desired page. One of the great examples of correctly using this tactic is the e-commerce brand Amazon. See how they have defined categories, and ultimately products in respective categories. In this case, a person looking for mobile accessories can reach the page within 2 clicks.
- Breadcrumbs: It is advisable to implement breadcrumbs as it allows easy navigation from one page to another, and a user can easily go through multiple sections of the website via using breadcrumbs. Just carrying on the example from Amazon, see this is how they have structured their breadcrumbs. As you can see from this example, a user can easily jump back to mobile accessories to browse more products. This is a great way to keep the person on the website resulting in positive reinforcement for website SEO.
Internal Linking
Internal linking is critical for a clear website architecture. Navigating through the menu and category is one way to link to different categories. Internal links are another way to connect one page to another. Each page content can link to another page which is related. For an e-commerce brand, such a page can be a product page with links to related products. For a publisher/content brand, it can be content page linked to related content page. All of it then are eventually connected to each other and tie back with category. See here the following example:
Sitemaps (XML and HTML)
XML sitemaps are for search engine crawlers to access all the pages within a website. However, HTML sitemaps are unsung hero when it comes to easy accessibility to pages of the website. It is great way for a user to understand website and see all pages on a single page. It is very similar to an index wherein you can check out all the categories and jump to the required page. Here is one of the well-known reputed publishers using HTML sitemap.
Competitor Analysis
Finally, and one of the best ways for niche and new websites to create the right website structure is to preview the competitor website architecture. In certain cases where there are lot of content to cover and lots of products which can run in thousands and thousands of pages for an ecommerce brand, it is possible to miss a few critical ways to build navigation for users in a seamless manner. And as such,
Website Architecture examples of software business
What we like about the above healthcare business brand is great navigation to main pages and elements on the homepage leading to different product pages.
FAQs (powered by Chat GPT)
Website architecture refers to the structural design of a website, encompassing the layout, hierarchy, and interrelation of its pages. It’s important because it enhances user experience by making navigation intuitive and straightforward. It also improves SEO by allowing search engines to index content more effectively, ensuring that users and search engines can easily find relevant information.
Flat website architecture minimizes the number of clicks needed to access any page, making most content accessible from the homepage or within one or two clicks. Deep website architecture, on the other hand, involves multiple levels of pages, requiring users to navigate through several layers of categories and subcategories. Flat architecture enhances usability and SEO, while deep architecture is better for organizing large amounts of content.
Key components include a clear homepage, well-organized category pages, intuitive navigation menus, search functionality, and responsive design. Each component should work together to provide a seamless and user-friendly experience, making it easy for visitors to find what they need quickly and efficiently.
Website architecture significantly impacts SEO by affecting how search engines crawl and index a website. A well-structured site with clear navigation and minimal levels allows search engines to easily find and rank content. This can lead to higher search engine rankings, increased visibility, and more organic traffic. Poor architecture can hinder crawling and indexing, negatively impacting SEO performance.
- Planning: Define the site’s goals and target audience before designing the structure.
- Simplicity: Keep the architecture as flat as possible to improve navigation and SEO.
- Consistency: Use consistent navigation and design elements across all pages.
- Scalability: Ensure the architecture can accommodate future content growth.
- User Testing: Conduct usability testing to identify and fix navigation issues before launch.