If you are building a new website or optimizing a current one, there are a lot of things that you may consider doing differently. Online user and search engine trends change fairly consistently. Of course, you want your target audience to get to your site and have a good experience. You also want to appear near the top of search engine results pages (SERPs).

That’s where the structure of your website comes in. Having the right structure for your website is akin to having a solid foundation when building a home.

Why is Site Structure Important?

The structure of your website is important because it is the backbone for everything else that goes on your site. It is the experience that users have when they find your product or service. Why is that important? Put together by a website design agency in Charlotte, NC, let’s take a look at a few of the reasons why site structure is paramount:

• Good structure means a positive user experience.
• A good site structure makes it easy for search engines to crawl your site.
• A good site structure can help you appear in snippets or side links.
• Good site structure is the core of good search engine optimization (SEO).
• A strong site structure rich with SEO optimization improves your ranking and drives organic traffic to your site.

How to Structure a Website for SEO

The structure of your site has a direct impact on SEO performance, which is one of the most important factors in getting your site in front of the right audience. Creating the right structure will help your website rank well and will appeal to users.

So, how do you structure your website for SEO? There are a few things you can do to make sure your site’s structure is on point for SEO:

• Determine a hierarchy for your website before you build it. Plan out your menu, main pages, child pages, and how they will interact on the site.
• Create a link structure that is in line with your navigation hierarchy. Do your internal links point in the right direction?
• Use HTML or CSS for site navigation. These are easier and more search engine friendly.
• Make sure important pages are not buried deep within your site. Use a shallow navigation structure to make sure information is easy for users to find.
• Make sure your top header lists out the main pages on your site. Avoid adding unnecessary items to your menu. This can be confusing and doesn’t benefit the user experience.
• Create a comprehensive internal linking structure that follows your design hierarchy. Internal links are important because they help users navigate the site, they establish where your information appears, and they spread link juice.

As you can see, the structure of your website is the foundation for everything else that goes on your site. By starting your web design with a great structure, you are setting yourself and the site up for success.

If you are building a new site, start the process by building your structure. This is important for anyone working on your team – web designers, content writers, or SEO experts. Everything that happens on your site will begin with the structure.