The Role of Site Structure in Search Engine Optimization

More ArticlesCopyright © 2007-2010 Wayne Davies

The way you set up your site has a direct influence on how much of it search engines will index. For example, Google usually won't index a web page if it's more than 2 clicks away from a site's homepage.

An understanding of the relationship between your site's structure, and the way search engines work, can greatly increase your chances of getting to page one of Google, Bing and Yahoo Search.

The Key SEO Elements

There are 5 key elements to SEO site structure. They are...

1. Organization
2. Tag hierarchy
3. Keyword emphasis
4. Page focus
5. Keyword links

Let's take a look at how each of them works to improve your site's performance in the major search engines.

Organization

Your site structure works best when you group related content together. For example, a classic car site might group pages based on car type (e.g. convertibles, pre-war, tail fins), and then by model within each type.

Header Tag Hierarchy

The header tags (h1-h6) form a hierarchy of importance in SEO terms. The h1 tag is by far the most important, and should be reserved for the main headline.

Use the minor heading tags for sub-headings, and to denote sections of decreasing importance. Your main keyword should appear in the main heading.

Keyword Emphasis

Use the bold and italics tag to emphasize keywords where they appear on the page. Some search engines note this emphasis.

Page Focus

Each page on your site should focus on a specific keyword. The more focussed it is, the more likely you'll grab a page one spot for that page.

For example, a page focused on stamp collecting is more likely to do well for the keyword phrase 'stamp collecting' than a more general page about hobbies. And a page focused on the Penny Black is more likely to index well for the keyword phrase 'Penny Black' than a general page about stamp collecting.

This is because a strongly focused page offers more opportunities to naturally include your main keyword phrase within the text.

Keyword Links

Take the opportunity to link your main keywords to internal and external pages that expand on points you raise on the page.

For example, you'll find a lot more information about search engine optimization on the site I just linked to. In particular, I recommend you download The DIY Guide to SEO. It's easily the web's best free ebook about Search Engine Optimization.