Why is site structure important?

When talking about website structure, we are specifically discussing the organisation of the content on your website. The benefit of having this information grouped and structured well means users will find their way around easily.

As you produce more content, your site could become cluttered, but it is important to avoid this so that your visitors and Google can find what they’re looking for, ultimately affecting your SEO.

There are 3 main reasons why this is important and how it affects your rankings in search engines.

1. Website structure clues Google into where the most essential content on your site is.
2. Without structure, you’re essentially competing with yourself for a higher ranking in search engines.
3. Importance should order your content.

The big question is now, how do I get started with site structure?

Your starting point should be to remove outdated content. Ensure anything about your company that has been updated internally is also available externally to the people who need it. For example, if you recently moved location yet your site still has your previous location listed, how will customers find you?

Evaluate the categories listed, if they have become overwhelmed with content, consider dividing them up into further subsections or merging them together, once again making them easier for your visitors to find.

And finally, improve your internal links. Whether this is links to your social media, products or the latest news from your company, it’s important to note how they link together and if they’re easy to find.

It’s important to remember that site structure is an ongoing progress and will need regular checks and re-evaluating and therefore should be a core component in your SEO Strategy.

Inspired by the following reference:
Rakt, M. V. D. (2018). What is site structure and why is it important? Yoast. https://yoast.com/site-structure/
Further reference can be found at https://moz.com/learn/seo

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