How to create an effective website tree structure for SEO?
If you are locking an effective website tree structure for SEO you are right a place
In order to get the most out of your website, you should consider a structured tree structure for your website.
A tree structure orders the content in a way that makes it easy for users to reach the information they are looking for.
Most websites have a tree structure. But these systems are often incomplete or poorly designed, which can discourage visitors from returning to the site.
In this article, Damien Gendron, natural referencing consultant at SEO Scale, explains how to create an effective website tree structure.
You will learn how to structure your site to best meet the expectations of your visitors and how to use shortcuts to create direct links to the most important pages of your site.
1. Why develop a website tree structure?
The site tree is a logical and efficient organization of your website.
It structures and prioritizes your content so that it best meets the expectations of Internet users.
It is also used to improve your ranking in search results.
The better your tree is designed, the more likely you are to appear on the first page of the Google search engine.
2. How to develop a website tree structure?
The website tree is the logical and hierarchical organization to apply to your site to structure your content.
There is no strict rule regarding site trees, the most important thing is to make your pages easily accessible to Internet users.
If your tree structure is clear and orderly, they will find what they need more easily and they will come back to your site more often.
Here is the method to follow to design an effective tree structure.
Visually represent your upstream tree
When creating a website, start by visualizing its tree structure.
By viewing the links between the different web pages, you check if the structure of your site is simple and clear before printing it.
Software or just a pencil and paper can be used to create the hierarchical tree of your site. The best way to organize the structure of a website is to draw it by hand.
This allows you to do this multiple times and ensure that all pages are properly linked together. You can also use tools specific to tree creation to save time.
MindMeister: the easy-to-use free tool for creating your tree structure
MindMeister - Website Tree Example
MindMeister is a free tool to build the tree structure of your website in a few clicks.
To do this, select the “New Mind Map” icon then choose the size of your tree structure.
Then add your different parts and pages of the site by placing them on the map.
3. How to optimize your tree?
1. Play the card of simplicity for the tree structure of your website
Your website should be organized in a way that users find meaning in it. For this, the tree does not have to be complicated.
A fairly simple tree structure is perfect if it helps you achieve your goals.
For example, let's say you have a dog training website.
You might want to organize it into sections: obedience training, agility training…
It makes sense to the user.
Indeed, he can go directly to the section that interests him the most and skip the other sections if they do not interest him.
But probably you just want to teach people how to train their dogs in general.
In this case, surely it makes more sense to have a main page with links to each type of training as subcategories or subpages below that main page, rather than separate pages for each type of training with links to these pages from the main page.
The thing is, there's no one right way to do things.
My advice: align the tree structure with your business objectives!
3.2. Link your pages together via internal linking
To improve the structure of your website, link your pages together via internal linking
Internal linking is the process of linking your pages together so that they appear like a tree structure.
In this way, you will create an effective navigation system to allow your users to navigate your site.
With these internal links, you direct a natural flow on your site by prioritizing the pages according to your business objectives.
It also helps with search engine optimization (SEO). In effect, it shows Google and other search engines that you are building an organized site with well-structured information.
It's important to note that this should be done after you've created all of your content and drafted all of the navigation options for each page.
Note: If there isn't enough relevant content or information on a given page to warrant linking to another existing page, don't link it at all!
My tip: link your pages like a family tree
The family tree is the perfect analogy for a website with a tree structure.
Just as family members are linked by their parents, all pages on your site are linked by their parent pages.
You can use this information to craft your site content in an organized and logical way.
3.3. Pay attention to the anchoring of your links
The anchoring of your link is an essential element for the navigation of the visitor on your site as well as for your tree structure.
You can use it to highlight a specific point in your text and make it stand out, but be careful not to overuse this technique.
It's important that your links are clear, concise, and easy to understand so that your visitors can quickly find what they are looking for.
My advice: don't make the anchor text too long or too complicated. Indeed, they become difficult to read and can confuse users.
3.4. Optimize your URLs
Your URL structure is also a powerful tool for optimizing your site's performance in search engines.
Your website's URL structure is the basis of how your site is organized and how users can navigate it.
Even if it is a priori not very important for the search engines, they use the URL to determine the content of your page, which in fact can be one of the factors for the ranking of your site.
By optimizing your URLs, make sure Google knows exactly what each page on your site is and what its content is.
This will rank you higher in search results, which means more traffic and more conversions!
My advice: favor short URL addresses containing the main keyword of the page.
3.5. Monitor page depth or number of clicks needed to reach content
When you're on the internet, you want to do things quickly.
That's why we prefer all sites that provide quick access to the content you are looking for.
The depth of the pages or the number of clicks needed to reach the content are factors that affect user satisfaction and loyalty.
The deeper a page is, the more clicks users need to get to their destination and the less satisfied they are with your site.
My advice: the ideal is to stay 3 clicks away from the information.
3.6. Add navigation elements in addition to your internal mesh
When designing a site, think about navigation as well.
Make sure your visitors find their way around the site. For this, it is important to provide them with clear indications of how they can get from one page to another.
There are several useful navigation elements depending on your website:
- Breadcrumb,
- Main Menu,
- Search bar,
- Labels.
4. How to analyze the tree structure of your competitors?
How to analyze the tree structure of your competitors' sites?
The tree structure of your competitors is often a mine of useful information.
It is possible to see the different sections they have created for their website to get some ideas about what your own site should contain.
You can also look at the way they present their content, and see if it matches what you are looking for before you start creating your own website.
You can use software or tools to analyze the tree structure of your competitors.
It can also be done manually, but it's much easier if there is software specifically designed for this purpose.
The best website tree analysis tools
It is important to be able to analyze your competitors' sites. But it can sometimes be overwhelming.
There are so many different tools out there that it's hard to know which one is the best for this task.
In my opinion, 3 of them stand out for their ease of use and their ability to provide a complete analysis of your competitor's site: ScreamingFrog, OnCrawl, and Seolyzer.
These tools give an analysis of what can be done or adapted to your website thanks to the visuals offered by these tools.
However, they are limited in their free version.
What you must remember
To achieve your goals, take the right steps.
Providing the search engine with clear information that logically guides it through your site is the best way to rank higher in search engines like Google.
User attention is a priority while giving Google the ability to easily and fully crawl your site.
Thank you Damien for all these tips on how to build a successful website structure. I would like to add that with a clear tree structure for users, you significantly increase your conversion rate.
FAQ – 3 questions about the role of the tree structure of a website
Why should I optimize the structure of my website?
Optimizing your website tree is a great way to make sure your content is as accessible as possible. It's also a great way to make it easier for search engines to find your site and understand its content.
What are the main steps to optimize the structure of a website?
Start by identifying your business needs and goals and analyzing the competition and the sites that perform. Then, prioritize your content while developing the internal mesh of your pages. Finally, optimize your URL addresses and link anchors.
What are the benefits of a well-built website structure?
If you organize your website properly, users and search engines benefit. Indeed, on the one hand, users find your content more easily. On the other hand, Google indexes yo
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