How important is silo structure?

Banned 8 years ago

Originally Posted by sconer

When talking about a small local contractor, how important is it for the website to be silo structured? Will it make any real difference, or is it just one tiny element that may not effect the ranking at all?

My website is a Joomla site on GoDaddy and has all of the normal pages (such as Services, Contact Us, About Us, etc.) as well as a bunch of city specific landing pages all in the root directory.

www.website.com/about-us
www.website.com/contractor-cherryville-ny
www.website.com/meadowbrook-ny-contracting

I was wondering if that was holding me back at all, if having a silo structure would help?

My theory is, Google collapses navigation links into a single link as they do with outbound site-wide links. With a silo structure, the pages in each category are ideally cross linked either in or adjacent to the content. So they are internal links and not navigation links. If somebody has proven this I'd like to know, but I'm pretty sure that's why it works. So typically your site has sitewide navigation to the categories and about us pages, but the pages in the categories each link to each other (and back to the navigation.)

Either way, it definitely helps spread the link power around the pages that are cross linked.

If navigation links are indeed collapsed into a single link, this would explain why internal links in the body of the content are so powerful now, since the navigation links only get authority from whatever page has the most authority (usually the root index page) and do not get authority from every page on the site. The internal pages that have deep links still pass authority to the index.

I hope this all makes sense and I would appreciate input on this from others.

Edit:
So to answer your question more clearly, it's more about where the authority comes from and where you want it to go. For a local business, you typically get all authority from the root index page and there's no real reason to spread it around to the internal pages, as you don't really want to rank that content. So I don't think a silo structure would actually do you any good. But if I'm right about the way navigation links work, it doesn't matter anyways (for a small local biz site.)

Silos are generally done by SEOs who want to rank content, so they cross link their related content together, which spreads around the authority and if the content is relevant, it helps rank it. The downside here would be, it's less focused on a single page. It also sends a strong signal to Google that the pages are relevant, since the related content is usually in it's own /directory/. This could also be done with tags, but that's kind of dumb since authority drains and the tag page would add an extra link. Some people build links to the tag pages though.

Thanks
1 reply

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John Hocking 8 years ago

Each page has its own chance to rank.

What maters most is getting you keyword in url, page title ,heading and body.
Be Careful not to just repeat the content on each page with a different city.

Here is a link to a lot of good information on local search SEO.
SEO: Local | Search Engine Land
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Curtis2011

8 years ago

SILO structure is not the be-all, end-all of web content.

It is just a good way to organize content so that both visitors and Google can easily see which pieces of content are related to which parts of your site, and to navigate your content easily.

Thanks

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yukon

Banned 8 years ago

Originally Posted by sconer

When talking about a small local contractor, how important is it for the website to be silo structured? Will it make any real difference, or is it just one tiny element that may not effect the ranking at all?

My website is a Joomla site on GoDaddy and has all of the normal pages (such as Services, Contact Us, About Us, etc.) as well as a bunch of city specific landing pages all in the root directory.

www.website.com/about-us
www.website.com/contractor-cherryville-ny
www.website.com/meadowbrook-ny-contracting

I was wondering if that was holding me back at all, if having a silo structure would help?

Silos can be used for any site, it doesn't matter If it's a huge eCommerce or a local small business.

Silos are based on hierarchy, here's the definition:

A system or organization in which people or groups are ranked one above the other according to status or authority.

Google does look at hierarchy & that's easy to prove considering hierarchy is how Mega Sitelinks are created on the SERPs.

Instead of this below...

Originally Posted by sconer

www.website.com/about-us
www.website.com/contractor-cherryville-ny
www.website.com/meadowbrook-ny-contracting

...try doing something like this:

domain.com
- domain.com/hvac-contractor
  - domain.com/hvac-contractor/replacing-furnace-filters
  - domain.com/hvac-contractor/air-duct-cleaning-health-benefits
  - domain.com/hvac-contractor/hvac-planned-maintenance-agreement
  - etc...

This is a very simple & logical site structure that anyone can do on their own site. Even If you don't care about SEO you should be building sites that are well structured for traffic.

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1 reply

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sconer

8 years ago

Thanks for all the replies guys!

Originally Posted by yukon

This is a very simple & logical site structure that anyone can do on their own site. Even If you don't care about SEO you should be building sites that are well structured for traffic.

I'm curious about when you said this: "Even If you don't care about SEO you should be building sites that are well structured for traffic." Does traffic (ie. my visitors looking for a contractor) notice the URL structure? I would think that's something that most people don't pay attention to. Hell, some browsers (like Safari) don't even show directories anymore, they simply say "website.com" in the bar. As for my navigational links on the website, I believe those are arranged well so that visitors can find their way around easily and proficiently.

...try doing something like this:
domain.com
domain.com/hvac-contractor
domain.com/hvac-contractor/replacing-furnace-filters
domain.com/hvac-contractor/air-duct-cleaning-health-benefits
domain.com/hvac-contractor/hvac-planned-maintenance-agreement
etc...

I can do that, just add the directory like you did in the example. The site is already built, so my concern is whether changing the structure to a silo would actually be worthwhile enough (as far as SEO benefits) to warrant both the labor of changing it and the initial hit I would take (in lost ranking) by changing all the URLs around? How do you feel about that?

Thanks
1 reply

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yukon

Banned 8 years ago

Originally Posted by sconer

Thanks for all the replies guys!

I'm curious about when you said this: "Even If you don't care about SEO you should be building sites that are well structured for traffic." Does traffic (ie. my visitors looking for a contractor) notice the URL structure? I would think that's something that most people don't pay attention to. Hell, some browsers (like Safari) don't even show directories anymore, they simply say "website.com" in the bar. As for my navigational links on the website, I believe those are arranged well so that visitors can find their way around easily and proficiently.

I can do that, just add the directory like you did in the example. The site is already built, so my concern is whether changing the structure to a silo would actually be worthwhile enough (as far as SEO benefits) to warrant both the labor of changing it and the initial hit I would take (in lost ranking) by changing all the URLs around? How do you feel about that?

A well structured site is important for traffic. Look at Warrior Forum, the odds of me finding this forum thread would be slim If all the forum threads ever created never had categories. I wouldn't waste my time digging through random threads that aren't organized. Example, finding kitchen knives in the amazon.com left sidebar of a toy page wouldn't be logical.

Like I said, it's easy to see Google using site structure when they generate Mega Sitelinks on the SERPs. Breadcrumbs on the SERPs is also an indicator of hierarchy.

Again, even If you forget about SEO structured sites makes sense for traffic. Also, it doesn't take much effort to organize a site.

Messing with existing ranked pages/URLs is very risky regardless what you're trying to do. My advice for that situation is leave it alone unless you have plenty of experience, even with experience it's still a gamble messing with ranked URLs.

Thanks
1 reply

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sconer

8 years ago

Originally Posted by yukon

A well structured site is important for traffic. Look at Warrior Forum, the odds of me finding this forum thread would be slim If all the forum threads ever created never had categories. I wouldn't waste my time digging through random threads that aren't organized. Example, finding kitchen knives in the amazon.com left sidebar of a toy page wouldn't be logical.

We are talking about two different things.

The navigational links on my website are well organized. The visitors (traffic) can find their way around just fine.

When I am talking about silo structure, I am asking about just the URL structure. Something that traffic would have no clue about.

All of the webpages on my site (about 50 in total) are on the root directory. Would it help by changing them around into some type of silo structure? You mentioned adding a directory (domain.com/hvac-contractor/replacing-furnace-filters) but would adding a directory for all the pages to be located in even be considered a silo structure and would it be worth the risk of lost ranking?

Thanks
1 reply

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yukon

Banned 8 years ago

Originally Posted by sconer

We are talking about two different things.

The navigational links on my website are well organized. The visitors (traffic) can find their way around just fine.

When I am talking about silo structure, I am asking about just the URL structure. Something that traffic would have no clue about.

All of the webpages on my site (about 50 in total) are on the root directory. Would it help by changing them around into some type of silo structure? You mentioned adding a directory (domain.com/hvac-contractor/replacing-furnace-filters) but would adding a directory for all the pages to be located in even be considered a silo structure and would it be worth the risk of lost ranking?

We're talking about the same thing (SEO) I only pointed out how a well structured site also helps traffic navigate the site.

Like I've already said twice, once you understand Google Mega Sitelinks you'll see that site structure is part of the Google algo. Yes a sub-directory would be a silo.

I have no idea If you can pull off a successful site structure overhaul. I'm always hesitant to suggest anyone mess with currently ranked pages (If it isn't broke, don't fix it). If you're not ranked for any decent traffic keywords, go for it, nothing to lose.

Thanks
1 reply

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sconer

8 years ago

I've been confusing the term silo structure. I thought it was about the URL system. But it appears that it is about the navigational system. Or both.

My navigational system is laid out in a silo structure where it can be. For example, the city landing pages are listed on the county landing pages. So you can choose service area, then county, then city. Or you can choose Services and then choose a particular service.

I think for navigational purposes of potential customers, the layout is pretty good.

My curiosity here is about the URL structure. Right now all of the pages are in the root directory.

My site is newer so with some 301 redirects I could probably change things around without taking a big hit. But I am curious if it's worth the work to change it, if it will make any measurable difference.

Thanks
1 reply

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yukon

Banned 8 years ago

Originally Posted by sconer

I've been confusing the term silo structure. I thought it was about the URL system. But it appears that it is about the navigational system. Or both.

My navigational system is laid out in a silo structure where it can be. For example, the city landing pages are listed on the county landing pages. So you can choose service area, then county, then city. Or you can choose Services and then choose a particular service.

I think for navigational purposes of potential customers, the layout is pretty good.

My curiosity here is about the URL structure. Right now all of the pages are in the root directory.

My site is newer so with some 301 redirects I could probably change things around without taking a big hit. But I am curious if it's worth the work to change it, if it will make any measurable difference.

Are you using old school HTML or a CMS like Wordpress? If it's simple HTML you could easily test a single sub-directory. Even If you're running a CMS (ex: Wordpress) you could still build plain HTML pages & drop them in a sub-directory then add a navigation link on the CMS theme pointing at the parent page in the new directory.

Either way build a new category & do some testing. That way you have nothing to lose.

Thanks
1 reply

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sconer

8 years ago

Originally Posted by yukon

Are you using old school HTML or a CMS like Wordpress? If it's simple HTML you could easily test a single sub-directory. Even If you're running a CMS (ex: Wordpress) you could still build plain HTML pages & drop them in a sub-directory then add a navigation link on the CMS theme pointing at the parent page in the new directory.

Either way build a new category & do some testing. That way you have nothing to lose.

The entire website is on Joomla. I had someone else build it, but I am pretty handy so I'm sure I could make changes but I would have to learn Joomla first.

Thanks
1 reply

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Jill Carpenter

8 years ago

Originally Posted by sconer

The entire website is on Joomla. I had someone else build it, but I am pretty handy so I'm sure I could make changes but I would have to learn Joomla first.

Joomla is easier to figure out from the backend if you are familiar first with wordpress.

Anyway, I'm hoping to catch Yukon's attention.

Have spent the last day going around in circles trying to find anything I might be missing as far as doing a silo structure and avoiding leaks or leaky themes as to wordpress.

And enjoyed Yukon circa 2011.

What I want to find answers to:

From what I'm understanding, the "categories page" itself should be your overall money page. The blog posts are support articles respectively for their category.

So I have an affiliate site in mind that may have several products to promote under each category.

Using the dog examples:

Category: Stop Dog Barking
supporting article: Stop dog barking in crate (this is affiliate product #1)
supporting article: Stop dog barking at mailman (this is affiliate product #2)
supporting article: Stop dog barking at bearded men with hats (this has no product, just free info)
Imagine this is going to keep growing over time.

Now I'm not sure I want to be pushing multiple affiiate products all on my primary category page. Will I want to keep affiliate links just on those supporting article pages? And perhaps on the main category page break that down to a synopsis type page that links to oofers while points those out?

I'm wanting to control links and outbound links as much as possible.

Thanks
1 reply

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yukon

Banned 8 years ago

Originally Posted by Jill Carpenter

Joomla is easier to figure out from the backend if you are familiar first with wordpress.

Anyway, I'm hoping to catch Yukon's attention.

Have spent the last day going around in circles trying to find anything I might be missing as far as doing a silo structure and avoiding leaks or leaky themes as to wordpress.

And enjoyed Yukon circa 2011.

What I want to find answers to:

From what I'm understanding, the "categories page" itself should be your overall money page. The blog posts are support articles respectively for their category.

So I have an affiliate site in mind that may have several products to promote under each category.

Using the dog examples:

Category: Stop Dog Barking
supporting article: Stop dog barking in crate (this is affiliate product #1)
supporting article: Stop dog barking at mailman (this is affiliate product #2)
supporting article: Stop dog barking at bearded men with hats (this has no product, just free info)
Imagine this is going to keep growing over time.

Now I'm not sure I want to be pushing multiple affiiate products all on my primary category page. Will I want to keep affiliate links just on those supporting article pages? And perhaps on the main category page break that down to a synopsis type page that links to oofers while points those out?

I'm wanting to control links and outbound links as much as possible.

Make sure all the affiliate links are nofollow. As far as ranking pages the affiliate links shouldn't have anything to do with an SEO silo.

Silos are flexible it really depends on what you want to do with the site & how you funnel traffic into a conversion. You can still setup silos for both ranking pages & cross promoting relevant products.

Example, take a basic silo with a single parent page & six child supporting pages. The parent page could advertise a main affiliate product (ex: dog behavior training ebook) while each of the child supporting pages could target more specific sub-niches that each might be selling their own sub-niche ebook (ex: stop dog jumping ebook, stop dog chasing other animals ebook, etc...). All the pages in the silo would still be relevant to the parent page.

This way you still get the SEO advantage of a silo (good site structure/hierarchy) & cross promote relevant products at the same time.

Note: The example in the graph are subjects, not necessarily target keywords. Don't over optimize a site repeating the same words over & over...

Thanks

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karenwilliams

8 years ago

Silo structure is an SEO technique that creates keyword related themes on your website, improving relevancy of website in the eye of search engine.

Thanks

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svsets10

8 years ago

Silo structure helps pass link juice to the appropriate pages. It's nothing more than internal linking. With that being said, I have some tests that are ranking local sites VERY quickly with just a silo and a few links. For local, here is what I have been doing:

Main page to rank for general contractor + your city

Build out the usual pages (services, about, contact etc)
Add 5-10 blog articles with tips about contracting
Each article and the other pages link back to main page with exact match anchor text for the keyword on the home page that you want to rank.

After that you can add links from the homepage to other important pages that you want to rank as well.

Add some links and then let the juice flow accordingly.

Thanks

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How important is silo structure?

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