A good website structure ensures that your content is presented in a logical and coherent manner, making it easier for visitors to navigate and find the information they’re seeking. Additionally, search engines like Google use the structure of your website to determine its content and relevance to specific search queries.
Example 1: Imagine visiting an online bookstore where all genres of books are mixed up, making it almost impossible to find a specific genre or author. That’s what it feels like to navigate a poorly structured website.
Example 2: Think of your website as a library. Just as libraries categorize books by genre, author, and other criteria, your website should categorize content to make navigation intuitive.
Example 3: In terms of SEO, a structured site allows search engines to crawl pages efficiently. Google’s spiders can more easily index content, improving your chances of ranking higher in search results.
Your homepage is the digital “front door” to your website and often serves as the first impression for visitors. It should clearly convey your site’s purpose, highlight essential content, and guide visitors to their next action.
Example 1: A website selling organic beauty products should have a homepage featuring product categories, best-sellers, and perhaps a video demonstrating product benefits.
Example 2: Consider a news website; the homepage should display breaking news at the top, followed by categorized sections such as international news, sports, entertainment, etc.
Example 3: For personal blogs, the homepage might highlight the most recent posts, a brief biography of the writer, and categories or tags to help visitors find content of interest.
A hierarchical website structure means organizing your website’s pages and content in a way that displays the relationship between the content. It’s like a tree with main topics (or parent pages) branching out to more specific topics (or child pages).
Example 1: A fashion website might have parent pages like “Men,” “Women,” and “Kids,” with child pages under “Men” such as “Suits,” “Casual Wear,” and “Accessories.”
Example 2: An educational site could have parent pages like “Subjects” with child pages “Math,” “Science,” “History” and further breakdowns under “History” like “Ancient,” “Medieval,” and “Modern.”
Example 3: For an e-commerce site selling electronics, parent categories might be “Mobile Phones,” “Laptops,” and “Audio.” Under “Mobile Phones,” child categories could be “Smartphones,” “Feature Phones,” and “Accessories.”
Navigation menus are crucial as they guide visitors throughout your site. WordPress allows users to easily create and manage menus through its dashboard.
Example 1: Go to Appearance > Menus in the WordPress dashboard. From here, you can create a new menu, add pages or custom links, and arrange them hierarchically.
Example 2: For blogs, add categories to your menu. This way, readers can quickly find posts on topics they’re interested in.
Example 3: Always include essential pages like “Home,” “About Us,” “Contact,” and “Blog” in your primary menu for easy accessibility.
Internal links connect different parts of your website and guide visitors to relevant content. They help distribute page authority throughout your site and improve SEO.
Example 1: If you’re writing a blog post about “The Benefits of Green Tea,” internally link to a previous post like “Top 10 Green Tea Brands.”
Example 2: On a product page for running shoes, you might link to related products like “Running Apparel” or blog posts like “Tips for Long-Distance Running.”
Example 3: Resource pages or FAQs can benefit from internal links, guiding users to deeper, topic-specific content.
SEO-friendly URLs are not only easier for visitors to understand but also play a role in improving your website’s search engine ranking. In WordPress, you can easily customize your URLs.
Example 1: By default, WordPress might set your URL as “domain.com/?p=123.” However, this doesn’t tell users or search engines anything about the content. Change it to a more descriptive format like “domain.com/best-green-tea-brands.”
Example 2: For a blog post about homemade pizza recipes, an SEO-friendly URL might look like “domain.com/homemade-pizza-recipes” instead of something generic like “domain.com/post456.”
Example 3: In WordPress, go to Settings > Permalinks to choose a structure that uses post name or a combination of category and post name for a more descriptive URL.
Categories and tags in WordPress serve as a way to organize your content. While both help in structuring your content and improving user navigation, they have distinct roles.
Example 1: Think of categories as the table of contents in a book. They provide a general overview of the topics on your website. For instance, on a cooking blog, categories might include “Desserts,” “Main Courses,” and “Beverages.”
Example 2: Tags, on the other hand, are like the index at the back of a book. They pinpoint specific details within your posts. Using the cooking blog example, for a post in the “Desserts” category, you might have tags like “chocolate,” “vegan,” or “no-bake.”
Example 3: When creating a post in WordPress, you can select or add new categories on the right-hand side. Below that, you can also add tags relevant to the post, making sure they genuinely represent the content.
With a significant portion of web traffic coming from mobile devices, having a mobile-optimized site is no longer just an option; it’s a necessity. Mobile optimization ensures that visitors accessing your site from smartphones or tablets have an experience tailored to their device.
Example 1: Google has a Mobile-Friendly Test tool. By entering your website URL, you can check if your site is mobile-optimized and get recommendations.
Example 2: Many modern WordPress themes are responsive by default. When choosing a theme, ensure it’s labeled as “responsive” or check its demos on different devices.
Example 3: Use plugins like WP Touch or AMP for WordPress to further optimize or create a mobile version of your site without changing your primary theme.
The footer is often an overlooked aspect of web design, but it plays an essential role in offering users additional navigation and information options.
Example 1: Essential links like “About Us,” “Contact,” “Privacy Policy,” and “Terms of Service” are commonly placed in the footer as they’re necessary but not primary navigation links.
Example 2: Including a brief about section or a newsletter signup in the footer can engage visitors and prompt them to stay connected.
Example 3: Some websites showcase their recent blog posts, social media links, or even a mini-gallery in the footer to enhance user engagement.
Content siloing is an SEO technique where you group related information on your website together to provide an organized and easy-to-follow structure for both users and search engines.
Example 1: An online store selling electronics can have a primary category (or silo) for “Cameras,” under which there are subcategories like “DSLR,” “Mirrorless,” and “Point & Shoot.”
Example 2: In a health and wellness blog, you can create silos like “Nutrition,” “Exercise,” and “Mental Wellbeing.” Under “Nutrition,” you can have posts about “Healthy Recipes,” “Diet Plans,” and “Supplements.”
Example 3: Implementing content silos in WordPress can be achieved through a combination of categories, sub-categories, and internal linking. Ensure that content within a specific silo is interlinked, guiding the user through a journey of related content.
By strategically organizing content, siloing enhances the user experience, makes your site’s content hierarchy clear to search engines, and can significantly boost your SEO efforts.
