How does the site architecture affect your SEO optimization process?

Difference between site navigation and site architecture

Site navigation refers to how visitors use a website to find what they are looking for, while site architecture is more about how search engines crawl, index and rank your pages. Site navigation is largely influenced by how accessible content is on the website, while site architecture is influenced by how search engine crawlers perceive and index a website.

Why do you need both?

Site navigation is one of the first steps in optimizing a website for search engines. The site architecture and how it is structured can have an impact on how well you rank in search engine results pages. Navigation should be user-friendly, make sense, and not confuse visitors to your site. Navigational structure impacts how people find your content, as they are using keywords in their searches to locate what they want. If people get frustrated looking for content on your site, they may give up and go elsewhere.

Think about the user flow. User Experience (UX)

One of the most important considerations when designing a website is how easy it is to navigate. The site’s architecture and overall structure can have a significant effect on its user experience (UX) and, as such, its search engine optimization. If a visitor has difficulty finding their way around or feels frustrated at having to click through multiple pages to find what they’re looking for, they are likely going to leave your website and never come back. That’s why it’s so important that you design your site with UX in mind – if you want people to stay engaged with your content, you need them to be able to quickly access it.

Information Architecture (IA)

Information architecture refers to the way you organize and label the content on your website, from navigation to content strategy. Having an organized website makes navigation and finding information easier for users. Your site can also be better indexed by search engines if you do this.

The term information architecture is used often in the world of website design and development. It is essentially the foundation of a website. Taking care to organize and structure your website effectively will have a huge impact on your efforts. By ensuring that your website is well organized and has a clear hierarchy of content and links, visitors will know where they are. An information architect must always consider how users want to use a website – not simply how we want them to use it.

How to start?

Well-designed items belong to everyone. A housewife and a millionaire.

Philippe Starck

The general navigation

It’s what allows people to go back and forth between pages, sections, or subsections of content. A good navigation system helps people find their way around a website quickly and easily. This is especially important when it comes to websites that have a lot of content to offer–navigation can be a way for visitors to filter down their search results so they only see what they’re looking for instead of being overwhelmed by everything.

The hierarchy of pages

• Start with a homepage. It should be optimized for conversions, have a clear call to action and prominently feature your product or service.
• The first level of navigation (on the left hand side of most screens) should also be optimized for conversions, but it should offer more in depth information about your business, such as pricing and product benefits.
• The second level of navigation is typically reserved for service pages, such as a contact form or company blog. These pages should contain an embedded chat box so visitors can get answers to their questions right away.
• The third level of navigation links to content that isn’t specifically geared toward making a sale, like articles or other informational pieces on topics relevant to your industry.
• Lastly, you can create an “About Us” page that talks about how your company was founded, what sets you apart from the competition and how customers can learn more about your team.

Page Title Tag

The Page Title Tag is a text that should be placed in the html code of your website. It’s typically visible to search engines and visitors, but not to readers of your website. The title should be catchy and informative, so it attracts both visitors and search engine crawlers. It may also include keywords related to the topic of the page or content on that page.

Schema Markup Tags

By adding Schema Markup Tags, your web pages will be more crawlable by crawlers and provide more relevant search results. One important schema markup tag to use is the Organization Tag which lets you specify your organization name, address, phone number, email address, website URL (optional), location (optional) and a name for the contact person. Other tags such as LocalBusiness let you specify information about opening hours or an opening date of a company which are also important for SEO. There are many different types of tags you can use, depending on the type of content that you have on your page.

Internal links

It’s important to have a well thought-out strategy for internal linking, and it pays off, when you create natural pathways through your content, people will engage more with what you have to say and find related content. This will allow you to direct your traffic and keep your past content alive.

Summary

Overall, when it comes to your website’s navigation, you want to make sure that there is some form of hierarchy. If you have subcategories of posts on your blog, for example, make sure that they are organized in a way that makes sense and are easy to find. The different sections of the site should also be broken up by navigation tabs like Home, About, and Contact so users can easily find what they’re looking for.

As a result, it is important to design and implement navigation that makes sense for both visitors and search engines. A navigation scheme that’s easy for visitors to find their way around, but also one that offers search engine crawlers enough content to crawl and index.