9 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
9 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

How effective are Silo Structures? Should I restructure my site?

by hockmasm
7 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I just stumbled across the theory of Silo Structures for a website. I am thinking of redoing my website so that it fits into this type of structure. However, it will take a lot of work and i never really put my blog posts into really tight categories as recommended.

i run a tutorial website and i just classified everything as either Basic or Advanced tutorials. I wrote on a ton of different topics within my niche, so breaking it up into 5 or more "categories" may be tough.

Anyways, has anyone went through the process of restructuring their website into a Silo structure and started ranking higher for keywords and/or get more visitors?

need to know if it is worth it or not.

thanks!
#effective #restructure #silo #site #structures
  • Profile picture of the author RedShifted
    Dude, just look at some of the highest ranking sites on G. Like webmd.com. If you're trying to build an authority site, it should definitely have a nice, clean, silo structure.

    In fact, if I land on a site thats poorly organized, regardless of how good the content is, I will usually leave the site really quick. So it helps users navigate your site, on page time, bounce rate, etc etc and all that stuff matters when it comes to ranking.

    -RS
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9027375].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Alaister
      Silo structures are much more targeted and allow search engines to quickly understand what your site is about.

      Here's a great article about it with diagrams to further explain the concept:

      BruceClay - SEO Silos - how to build a website silo architecture

      It's more targeted for SEO, PPC and conversions.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9027391].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author hockmasm
        Originally Posted by Alaister View Post

        Silo structures are much more targeted and allow search engines to quickly understand what your site is about.

        Here's a great article about it with diagrams to further explain the concept:

        BruceClay - SEO Silos - how to build a website silo architecture

        It's more targeted for SEO, PPC and conversions.
        i just finished reading that article. learned a lot. i was confused about what he was saying about changing the top level categories. he said:

        "We identified the following primary terms: Charity Giving Philanthropy, Estate Planning, Governmental Giving, World Charities, Religious Giving / Charity, Corporate Giving, and Fundraising."

        I understood that to mean those should be the main level category links but Heifer did not do that on their website. They kept it to generic terms Our Work, Get Involved, Learn, etc.

        Is that right?

        Also, how realistic is it to create a website without a top level navigation menu that only shows on the homepage. In theory it make sense, but is it realistic for user experience?
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9027425].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Alaister
          Originally Posted by hockmasm View Post

          i just finished reading that article. learned a lot. i was confused about what he was saying about changing the top level categories. he said:

          "We identified the following primary terms: Charity Giving Philanthropy, Estate Planning, Governmental Giving, World Charities, Religious Giving / Charity, Corporate Giving, and Fundraising."

          I understood that to mean those should be the main level category links but Heifer did not do that on their website. They kept it to generic terms Our Work, Get Involved, Learn, etc.

          Is that right?

          Also, how realistic is it to create a website without a top level navigation menu that only shows on the homepage. In theory it make sense, but is it realistic for user experience?
          Yeh basically in terms of categorizing themes and topics what was suggested is a good way to do so. It's similar to grouping keywords in an adwords ad group and makes sense from a SEO perspective.

          I guess with all of this in mind you do need a balance of usability with SEO optimization. It's different for every site depending on your audience, goals and objectives.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9027550].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author hockmasm
    today i went through and changed my wordpress categories to higher level keywords, then categorized all of my posts into specific categories.

    next process is to go through each and make sure they are not linking out of their category.

    i'll let you know what happens to my website traffic as a result.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9029198].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    If you have existing ranked pages you need to be careful what links your removing from a page. Don't go changing everything on a site & expect to hold a ranked position in Google SERPs.

    If you don't have any ranked pages, you can change pages/links all day long...
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9029244].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author OfficerIM
    [DELETED]
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9029554].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author yukon
      Banned
      [DELETED]
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9029785].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author hockmasm
      [DELETED]
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9030221].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Blaine Smitley
    After reading everything on warrior forum about silo structures I decided to do one.

    It's a tough industry that I chose because it has the word mortgage in it. It's also very geo specific to the city I live in. (Louisville KY) and goes after the top keyword phrase of "louisville mortgage lenders".

    I bought the exact match domain a .com.

    Launched the site like 6 weeks ago. Deployed the new responsive Expand2web small biz theme just as soon as it came out of Beta. I used themezooms free silo plugin to handle automating the architecture.

    The site is about halfway done per Yukons overall strategy as well as I could determine it from his posts.

    As well as I can tell (and I can tell just fine) the site has already gone through the google honeymoon and dance phases, it's now stable and consistent where it's at and doing no bouncing around at all.

    Where is it at in the SERPS

    GOOGLE PAGE 1 organic position #9 (will be number 1 inside of 1 month)
    YAHOO PAGE 1 organic position #1 ------I'm owning it baby!
    BING PAGE 1 organic position #1 -------- It's ass belongs to me!

    It has one good backlink and an accompanying facebook page. That's it, nothing else.

    I just finished starting the 3rd silo before I came here and read this thread. I will end up with 5 topical silos on the site with 5 supporting topics in each silo. Till I get the rest of the silo's done I'm not going to do any more backlinks other than the 1 that points at the home page that I currently have.

    I bet I can have the top organic spot on google page 1 HAHAHA!

    I'm not a pro, but in my mind this silo stuff works, and works well. REALLY REALLY WELL

    I'll not build anymore sites without a silo structure to them. Not unless google states that they hate them or something crazy like that.

    A big thankyou to Yukon and Russel Wright of themezoom for the knowledge and tools.

    May you live long and prosper much
    Signature
    Louisville SEO Company
    Check out our Customer Testimonials
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9034588].message }}

Trending Topics