If we try to list the characteristic qualities of successful websites, we’ll have to talk about web architecture. After all, it’s responsible for ensuring that the different pages and content on a single domain are consistent with each other.
The above positively impacts the final user experience. But not only that! Web architecture is also very important in SEO when guiding crawlers through the indexing process. Essentially, web architecture tells them which URLs they should review first and which ones to review later.
That said, it’s important to ask yourself: What is web architecture? If you don’t know a precise answer to that question, don’t worry. That’s the topic we’ll be discussing this time. So let’s take it step by step!
Web architecture is the structuring of the different pages that make up a website. Therefore, it refers to the connection through links that connect a URL to the rest to form a large framework. Hence the term architecture! The result should be a logical configuration that allows both users and crawlers to find exactly what they’re looking for.
Up to this point, we’ve only given you a brief overview of web architecture. So if you want to learn more about its importance, we invite you to continue reading. We’ll also tell you what to do to achieve the best possible web architecture!
Importance of web architecture for SEO
Without going into too many details, we can summarize the importance of web architecture with a simple fact: Approximately 7 out of 10 websites that fail to achieve their objectives do so because the structure that connects their links is not optimal.
As a result, people aren’t satisfied when consuming your content, and indexing bots aren’t ranking you highly. These are undoubtedly two of the worst news stories for anyone trying to start a website!
To better understand what makes web architecture such an important term, let’s put together a more digestible scenario: Just think about finding an address in a city where the street or residential layout doesn’t follow any logical order. It would be quite an ordeal, wouldn’t it?
Well, that’s exactly what we’re talking about, translated into the virtual world. But we must also discuss the following three key points:
- SEO: Google, to give the most famous example, bases web positioning on the action of bots that are responsible for indexing everything. With a great web architecture, you can tell these robots how to do their job more easily. It’s a win-win all around!
- Authority: As with any website, some pages will have more traffic than others. With good web architecture, you can transfer that authority from the most visited to the least popular, and grow your entire website.
- User Experience: We’ve already talked about this. Proper web architecture will guide people through every corner of that domain, seamlessly, so they can enjoy everything you have to offer.
Types of web architecture
If you’ve been around the Internet for a while, you’ll know that not everything is written down. And that’s precisely what happens with web architecture models: Although there are some types that have become established, ultimately the creator has the final say.
The above makes categorizing the possible types of web architectures a bit complicated. However, we want to tell you about what we believe to be the most popular and practical of all: the silo structure. Have you heard of it? Keep reading to learn more!
Silo web architecture
This type of architecture gets its name from its primarily vertical structure. All pages are related according to their keywords, so that the keyword of one entry belongs to the same category as its peers.
This isn’t to say that different topics can’t be covered within a website designed using a silo-style web architecture. Different categories can be developed without any problem. However, always maintaining a more or less evident coherence so as not to compromise the site’s consistency.
This is a very functional model, but it’s not completely rigid. What do we mean by this? It’s not a rule you can’t break. Remember, the important thing is that navigation throughout your website feels natural. So if at any point you feel it’s appropriate to make an exception to the rule, you can do so. But be consistent!
Best practices for good web architecture
After reviewing everything you need to know about web architecture, it’s time to go a step further: What are the best practices to consider for achieving a top-notch framework? That’s not an easy question to answer, but we’ll try our best to answer it through these six recommendations:
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Choose a flat web architecture
This is perhaps the best way to start if you’re new to the topic. Essentially, a flat structure is one in which any page can be accessed in just four clicks or less. It’s that simple! That way, both Google crawlers and users can find what they’re looking for without much hassle. 2. ### A website that’s easy to navigate. Less is often more, and that’s certainly good advice when it comes to web architecture. Don’t try to create a website with hundreds of entries. Take things a little slowly! That can be overwhelming for users.
Imagine how difficult it is to achieve timely content on a website with tons of pages. On the internet, everyone wants precision and speed, so believe us, overcomplicating things won’t really add value, but rather the opposite. 3. ### Assign categories correctly. This is a fundamental key to keep in mind. Categories are the best possible tool when it comes to organizing your website architecture! Make sure each new post you publish is managed by one of the categories you’ve previously created. This will help people filter what they want to see and give you better control over all your pages. 4. ### Your URL structure must follow your categories. One thing leads to another. So, from the moment you decide to implement categories, you must adapt your URLs to that change. How? Simple: By including the name of the category in question and the subdomain of each page. To make them look like this:
https://dominiodelaweb.com/categoria/subcategoria/keyword
Thanks to this slight change, anyone can always see which category and/or subcategory they’re currently browsing. Just look up and read the structure of the URL they’re on. 5. ### Create internal links . Remember how we mentioned that web architecture relates not only to the structure of the website, but also to how its pages are linked? That last point will be optimized with a system of internal links.
To achieve this, you’ll need to create bridges between one URL and another using hyperlinks. This way, people and crawlers can jump between different pages based on the navigation you, as the creator, suggest. It’s also an excellent idea for conveying authority throughout your website. 6. ### Create a sitemap. A sitemap is a tool you can use to index the pages on your website. This will help Google crawlers understand the order in which they should do their work.
A sitemap is truly useful for optimizing your web architecture, as long as you keep it up to date. We guarantee that after following all these steps, you’ll achieve a highly effective web architecture. It’s your turn to take action!
