6 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
6 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Siloing Strategy with Multiple Levels of Silos

by Steve327
5 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hi All, first time poster, long time reader.

I'm building an educational website and I'm struggling with figuring out the optimal siloing strategy. I've read all the recent silo threads here but none of them cover multiple subsilos in detail.

Here are some details about the site:

The purpose of the site is to educate visitors about products. We're going to be launching with 15-20 products but over the next year that number will increase to about 75.

Each product will have the following content:
Tutorials - 10-25 information and instructional articles (lots of content, some with videos).
FAQs - 20-40 questions going after longtail keyword phrases (each FAQ will be on it's own page and have 75+ words and maybe a video).
News/Articles - content rich articles about tips, product updates, and anything else not falling under tutorials or FAQ. Each product will start with only a few articles but we'll be adding approximately 1/month per product.

For those silos/content pages.. I'm thinking of the following URLs
Product page - main silo - Sitedomain.com/product-name
Tutorial listing page - sub silo - Sitedomain.com/product-name/tutorials
Tutorial article - content page - Sitedomain.com/product-name/tutorials/name-of-tutorial
FAQs listing page - sub silo - Sitedomain.com/product-name/FAQs
FAQ article - content page - Sitedomain.com/product-name/FAQs/name-of-FAQ
News listing page - sub silo - Sitedomain.com/product-name/News
News page - content page - Sitedomain.com/product-name/News/name-of-News-article

The product page will be the hub for all content and include links to tutorial articles, some FAQs and recent news (some will have snippets of text).

Additionally, many of the products will have product "addons" that will likely have their own product page, tutorials, FAQs, and news. I'm debating whether I should be adding a silo between the product page and subsilos. For example:

Tutorial listing page for product addon - Sitedomain.com/product-name/addon/tutorials

To make matters even more complicated, some addons will have variations which could lead to 4 silos:

Tutorial listing page for product addon variation - Sitedomain.com/product-name/addon/addon-variation/tutorials

Soo... After all that my questions are:

1. Ignoring the addons pages/content.. Does my initial structure make sense considering "product tutorials" "product FAQs" and "product news" are all high volume keywords I want to go after (in the long run)?

2. Considering the huge amount of content for each product and product addon... Are 3-4 silos too many? Keep in mind the product addon pages also represent high volume keyword phrases I'd like to go after in the long run. Same goes for the product addon tutorial/news/FAQs keyword phrases

3. If 3-4 silos are too many, should I consider making the individual product addons main silos? And link internal between the product page and releveant product addon pages?

Lastly, please let me know if anyone knows of sites that have solidly implemented 3-4 levels of silos.

Thanks!
Steve
#levels #multiple #siloing #silos #strategy
  • Profile picture of the author AzzamS
    Although it follows are logical process it is overkill, but with that said, it will not hurt the site as long as the content is unique and sufficient. Further you would utilise html and xml site map with interlinking between the pages with the addition of a breadcrumb.

    As long as Google can navigate the site and you do not leak too much juice from one page to all the other interlinking pages you will be ok.

    Realise that you are not Amazon or Mashable, thus can not rely on the weight of the site to benefit each page. However in the long term if the website achieves authority this silo will definitely help
    Signature
    Download 101 Actions for a Complete Website SEO Technical Audit Sample FREE today and charge clients $$$ with it.
    SEO Case Study: 1.7M Visitors from 27,000 Keywords Click here to read the post .
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9310832].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Dr los3
      Hey steve,

      I would try to keep the structure at domain/silo/article

      what is the reason you need to do domain/silo/subsilo/article.

      Just make your home page the index page, with all of your silos or products on that page.

      From your index we go to your product, and from there we can find everything we need, no need to separate things.

      Domain / product1 / article is what you need. figure out what you need to make that click in your brain, ill try and help

      I
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9311406].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Steve327
        Hey guys, thanks for the replies.

        So based on your comments it sounds like you think I should set up the page URLs like this:

        Since I'm going to need the tutorials, news, and FAQs pages to "display all" articles... They would still be at:

        Tutorial listing page - sub silo - Sitedomain.com/product-name/tutorials
        FAQs listing page - sub silo - Sitedomain.com/product-name/FAQs
        News listing page - sub silo - Sitedomain.com/product-name/News

        The above pages would also be targeting the keyword phrases "product tutorials", "product news", and "product FAQs".

        And you are suggesting that the article pages all be on the main silo and therefore have the URLs:
        Tutorial article - content page - Sitedomain.com/product-name/name-of-tutorial
        FAQ article - content page - Sitedomain.com/product-name/name-of-FAQ
        News page - content page - Sitedomain.com/product-name/name-of-News-article

        I initially thought putting the content articles under the subsilo made sense simply from a logical perspective and they would help support the "product tutorials" page. Although internal link building can obviously accomplish this as well.

        I also assumed it would make sense because the URL would match the breadcrumb:
        Tutorial article URL: Sitedomain.com/product-name/tutorials/name-of-tutorial
        Breadcrumb on this page: Home -> Product -> Tutorials

        Let me know your thoughts. Thanks again.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9313388].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Steve327
          Anyone have any additional insight into this? I'd really appreciate it!
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9318080].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author Dr los3
            I've been studying this, and if your content is tightly themed and structured with enough content, it puts the parent page on steroids. In this case our parent page is the product, which is the major keyword we are trying to rank for.

            I am trying to get to the first page with content and architecture, and use backlinks to get us to #1. If i were to chop up my silos with sub-silos I would be thinning out my silo pages, making it just a little harder for me to compete.

            Supporting pages. These pages are created to pump link juice and authority to the landing pages. Think of them as tier 1 links. If they get ranked, its an ancillary benefit. And it is as simple as that honestly.

            domain.com/oranges/how to peel an orange ( supporting page is a "tier 1" internal link)
            or
            domain.com/oranges/tutorial/how to peel an orange.
            ( now instead of giving more power to the silo "oranges", that support page becomes a tier 2 link, and not a tier 1.)


            Now I was in the same shoes as you a few months ago. I researched it until i fully understand why i should not go with a 4 deep silo structure. Oh boy was i stubborn, i reallllllly wanted to go with 4 like yourself.


            Thoughts?.
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9318124].message }}

Trending Topics