Here is the complete guide from one of the best Boca Raton SEO experts.
Let’s dive into it!
Creating the right structure is one of the most important steps in the website design process. Once the goals and needs have been assessed, the information we put on the website should be systematized. There are several aspects to consider when organizing: marketing, webergonomical requirements, usability, transparency, search engine optimization.
A good website structure is in itself a user experience. If the user sees that the site is well structured and easy to navigate, that is a huge trust factor.
What is the structure of a website?
A set of pages that are logically closely linked and linked (networked).
Attention to the website:
- NOT a PowerPoint presentation
- NO flyer or newspaper ad
- NOT a Word document or letterhead
- NOT a personal letter or book
- NOT a thesis (forget the 12-point, bracketed text)
We often come across pages whose structure is total chaos. Nonsense structure, disjointed, bulk content, poor grouping, overly diverse hierarchy, etc. It’s like a crowded train station where you have no idea where to go.
The appropriate structure is nothing more information, visual and textual content system taking and rankings. Logical subordination and hierarchy are important as well.
Site Map
As a first step, it’s a good idea to list what pages your target audience will need. You can also look at the pages of the competition, but only for inspiration (do not copy).
Choosing the right site names is important not only for visitors but also for SEO. For example, the fact that “About Us” doesn’t have SEO value in itself, but “Soma – Self Service Laundry” is much more than that.
At this point, it is not necessary for you to describe in detail the functionality of the pages or the details of the appearance, but it is worth describing in a few simple words what the content of each page will be.
At this point, you may find that you have already designed too many pages and you will not be able to write content for each one. In such cases, it is worthwhile to rethink the structure or group it differently.
The hierarchy should not be deeper than 3 levels unless you want to create a new ebay.com. Do not be overly complex or overly diverse. Low-depth pages work better in terms of usability, SEO friendly URL structure, and keywords. Eg: / men’s suits / pants / jeans.
Sitelinks, Navigation
In addition to the main menu, there are many links on the page. Tags, buttons, image links, CTAs, related links, etc. Links within the page can easily guide users and make it easier for search engines to crawl your site.
It is important to design the conversion paths properly. You need to plan how to get to your order/contact from an entry point, which can even be a blog post.
The better the structure of the website, the easier it will be for search engines to index the content. The right structure is one of the most important but unfortunately one of the most overlooked search engine optimization methods.
A well-structured page has more clicks, more page time, a low bounce rate, and a higher conversion rate.
Multilingualism
Different languages usually have different target groups, so mirror translation is not a good direction. If you run a blog in Hungarian, I doubt you will translate it into English and German.
Multiple menu items or pages may differ between languages, so it’s worth considering them as a separate web page. It is worth noting what you want to language and what not to do when you draw a sitemap. If the content is very different from one language to another, you might want to put a foreign language website on a separate domain.
Site Engine
You can choose the right CMS system (or you can opt for custom development) if you have a logically structured, clear website structure.
CMS systems cover roughly 90% of business needs, as a significant number of companies expect similar functionality from a web site being built.
CMS structures can also serve as crutches. You can rely on predefined duration types: pages, posts, labels, categories, product pages, etc. Therefore, it is common to use a CMS to structure your website. This is also practical because there are ready-made solutions and well-established methods for most needs.
Structure design
An easy-to-navigate website structure for search engines and users requires careful planning. We must not go beyond this point until we are sure that what we have planned is feasible. Without a structure and content sketch, it would be foolish for him to fall for the design.
Before you start writing texts or thinking about your image, the structure should be designed.
It is worthwhile to involve a marketer and / or a web designer at this stage.
Be prepared that this is not a half-page Word Docs compiled in the afternoon and it is not enough to list the menu items. I made a simple spreadsheet with sample data that can help you get started.