In the previous chapter we looked at Web Navigation and how it can have an impact on your Search Engine Optimisation. But what directly impacts your website’s navigation is the way in which it is built. Which brings us to one of SEO’s important elements: Site Architecture.
We used an example of going into the store and finding your product of choice at a completely unrelated place in the web navigation article. Well, the same is applicable when it comes to Site Architecture as, the way in which your website is built will determine the user experience of visitors to your site and search engines too. It doesn’t end there, things such as canonicalization and crawl ability are directly linked into the architecture of your website but we’ll look at both concepts later.
Take the definition here of Wikipedia and rework it your style:
Website architecture is an approach to the design and planning of websites that involves technical, aesthetic and functional criteria. As in traditional architecture, the focus is on the user and on user requirements. This requires particular attention to web content, the business plan, usability, interaction design, information architecture and web design.
Website architecture vs. web design
Web architecture differs from web design as it deals with it looks at the intellectual manner in which website content is structured. While web design on the other hand looks at the technical side of web development as well as graphics .i.e. colours used on the website, images, logo, slogan, layout of graphics etc…
What is website architecture all about?
Website Architecture is the process of designing and planning your website. It basically is the way in which we display content in our website.
Why is it so important?
Web architecture plays an important role in SEO as the way your website is designed and structured can encourage or discourage interaction between your site and users. Good structure helps the website to rank well with search engines as (link juice) easily ‘slides’ from one webpage to another. Website design is another important aspect of web architecture in terms of engagement as if its attractive enough, it will grab the attention of users and they will stay longer on your website.
Another important factor which makes site architecture essential if functionality. With the web moving towards mobility more and more by the day, it goes without saying that functionality of your website on both mobile and desktop is essential. It’s said that 57% of online shoppers will abandon a website after waiting for it to load for 3s and the other 80% will simply never return to it! All these elements of site architecture come as a collective in determining how great your website it.
The following are factors that determine how good your website architecture is
• Site speed – The speed of your website (loading time) can either make a good impression or bad one for users. A user will wait no more than 2 seconds before moving onto another website. Also search engines .i.e. Google has web speed as one of their algorithms as the less people use Google for search, the less revenue they get from selling ads.
• Canonicalization – Canonicalization refers to a webpage having different URLs yet the content is the same. The problem here is links get divided between all these pages and search engines hardly know which URL to have as the main one. This commonly occurs due to default setting of servers.
• Crawl ability – Crawl ability refers to the way a website is structured in allowing search engines to crawl and index it. Some websites are structured in a way that disables crawlers to get to their content. So developers should not only think about the design of the website but it should be about both design and content structure.
• Descriptive URLs – Descriptive URLs are easily identified and ranked by search engines. For instance take the below URL’s homepage which deal with food:
– http://www.foodnetwork.com/
– http://www.inspiringwomen.co.za/articles/117-inspiring-recipes?gclid=CPW2r8Gm8bsCFQjlwgodIgoAAQ
Not only is the first one simple, straightforward and to the point, but it’s more enticing to a searcher’s eye. Now the second one is long, with a lot of parameters and a question mark. It looks very spamy.
In addition to that there are two sides to site architecture namely: Technological and Structural.
Technological Architecture refers to the implementation of the website system, how the actual website is put together and what technology is used to do this. While on the other hand structural architecture is all about how your content is going to be laid out. So you’d first do your research about what your customers want, their demographics, income, occupation etc… And you’d get all this information from your staff, sales personnel and generally people who have first contact with your customers. After receiving this information you would then go ahead look at what to put on your website and decide how much content, images, videos will you allow on your site. You’d then design your website according to your research then start uploading your content, images, videos, blog etc.
Moving on to…
The best Site Architecture (Mapping it out).
While ‘Mapping it out’ is probably the best option when it comes to site architecture, the best way to determine what root to take when it comes to site architecture, navigation and content is to approach your sales people, distributors and staff. As the know best how your customers what your customers want, so to play it safe ask them first then move on to your planning (site architecture).
As mentioned earlier, the most effective way to build your website is to map it in accordance to internal links (upwards and downwards) as internal links increase link juice which search engines feed on! The first step in site architecture is looking at how my website structure is going to enable search engines to index it easily and also think of navigation of my website as well (for visitors).
Also a Site Architecture Map enables you to:
*Rectify design errors on your webpages. For instance having a webpage A ranking for webpage B’s keywords due to external links.
*Identifying page types: Having to group your webpages in a hierarchy allows for you to detect technical problems that may arise and also to see which level these problems are coming from .i.e. Home page, category-pages , sub-category…
* Identifying technical issues: Your site architecture may will ensure that to detect technical issues that may occur such as; forgotten webpages, difficulties with uppercase/lowercase etc….
*An example of a Website Archiceture Map.
The following are things to consider when building your website (Site Architecture).
• Site scheme – The way your website is built (its form) will determine its navigation ability. The best way to go about it is to use XHTML, CSS or Java Script.
• Site Depth – Site depth refers to the number of clicks it takes for a user to get to their desired destination. So you have to make sure that your site is built in a way that will reduce navigation clicks and make it easy for search engines to crawl through it.
• Internal linking – Internal linking provides a way for your customers to move from one related page to another. It is good for search engine indexing.
• URL Structure – Including keywords into your URL structure enables search engines bots to understand the nature of your company more.
We’ve discussed website architecture, our next move is to look at canonicalization. What causes it, how it is a problem in SEO and how canonicalization can be stopped.
Why is canonicalization a problem in SEO?
Canonicalization is a problem in SEO as search engines cannot pick up which URL to index. Take for instance if you have more than one URL then the search engine will rank you for both of them which will result in lower ranking for your website.
As you can see canonicalization can be a problem in search engine ranking. But what are its common causes?
Common causes of canonicalization are as follows:
• The different host names your website may have .i.e. www.picknmix.com vs. picknmix.com.
• Different protocols which may be used .i.e. https://www vs. http://www.
• Intervals used in between the URL (www.picknmix.com vs. picknmix.com//).
• Capitalization in between URLs www.picknmix.com/Index vs. www.picknmix.com/index
• Also redirects which are pointing to different URLs .i.e. the use of 302 inappropriately.
• Having logical titles on your webpage.
• The absence of a sitemap may create difficulty in spiders crawling through your site.
• Tagging your content incorrectly .i.e. Placing content in incorrect tags.
Duplicate content (How it develops and why it’s important for your website to avoid it all times).
Duplicate content usually happens when a technical error occurs on your website. Some websites even deliberately duplicate their content for better ranking with search engines surprisingly! Sometimes duplicate content occurs when the same text is placed in two different sections of the website, a duplication of URLs is a common one.
For example:
http://www.example.com/bear-cave-photos/2428/dept
http://www.example.com/bear-cave-photo-gifts/1290/dept
This if the perfect example of having different URLs with similar content. While this may bring direct traffic to your website, your site stands a chance of being penalized by search engines as they see it as ‘scamming’ them into your website gaining higher rankings. Also, which web user wants to read the same content from the home page to the last? Not many, if any! In order to retain or develop your site’s credibility, content duplication is one of the things you have to look out for at all times.
How can canonicalization be avoided?
You can avoid it by following these methods:
– Plan your website architecture well from the start or various complications may occur at a later stage.
– Always link to one domain/URL name not multiple.
– Use 301 redirect pages not 302. 301 pages are permanently removed and therefore cannot be ranked by search engines.
– Send your preferred URLs to Google Webmaster.
– Tell web bots not to index certain versions of your website.
– Use a website tracking tool to view the behaviour of your customers and rectify your canonicalization accordingly.
– Exclude ‘send a friend and email’ features.
– Avoid using tracking of IDs in internal site navigation. If you choose to use tracking IDs then instead of using a question mark use the # hashtag. Tracking ID is usually comprised of digits and letters.
http://picknmix.com EU965213- 77.
Now we will take a look at how the structure of your website can assist bots in indexing your website much easier and how web crawl ability can assist in ranking your site.
What exactly is website crawl ability?
Website crawl ability refers to the ability of search engines in crawling through your website content and through all your other webpages without experiencing any difficulties.
Website crawl ability plays an important role in your website as search engines have to easily manoeuvre through your entire site easily or they’ll definitely give you a lower ranking. And they make not even be able to get to other parts of your website which could be fatal. Also, for your visitors if they are able to navigate through your website from one webpage to another then it will definitely impact their experience on your website which could unfortunately lead them not to consider visiting it again.
In order for your website crawl ability to be effective you have to make sure that you:
* Link other internal webpages to each other. This makes indexing for search engines to be a breeze!
* All pages on your website should be linked to your homepage.
*For link juice purposes, the more internal links your website has, the better it will be ranked by Google.
We’ve covered everything! Site architecture, Canonicalization and Website Crawl Ability.
What is important here is to make sure that your Website Architecture is designed in a way that will enable search engines to crawl through your website. And not forgetting your users, they have to navigate through it easily. In terms of canonicalization, it is important for you to rectify any duplication of your URLs as search bots will pick up the same information and give you a low ranking as a result. With crawling your main focus should be on internal linking which not only enhances user experience as they are able to go from one page to another, but search engines will also be able to crawl through your website.
