The overall nature of a website determines its appeal to a wide variety of individuals and entities. Usually, webmasters contemplate how a website will be perceived by visitors. This aspect of website design and structure is very important, as even a well-designed website that doesn’t appeal to actual people will fall short in execution.

Nevertheless, pleasing search engines with the website design is also a priority. To build a website that is liked by search engines and featured in ideal search results, there are a number of considerations to make. To help webmasters with no idea where to begin, here are some tips on mapping out a website structure that is SEO-friendly.

Create a Visual Map Structure

In order to build the most effective website possible for SEO purposes, it is often helpful to physically visualize the process. By understanding how each pages connects to others and what the flow of navigation will be for users, the overall user experience is improved. However, this also improves the ability for search engines to locate and index pages, posts and content.

There are a number of mapping software solutions that can help webmasters design and visualize their site layouts for purposes such as these. By ensuring that your website is visualized before building it or revamping it, brands can also ensure they’re pinging links to every page in a way that is index-friendly and visible to search engines.

Utilize Keyword Research

Depending on your exact niche, there may be a bountiful number of competitors who are targeting the same search results you are. Additionally, people who are naturally likely to search for topics or pages relating to your brand may have select keywords and phrases they often use to find said content. To be truly SEO-friendly, a website structure should take these factors into account.

Keyword research can provide a wealth of benefits for planning a new or revamped site structure. By using more popular keywords as the top pages for your site and branching off into more niche options, your website can be designed in such a way as to maximize visibility across the broader topic in search results.

Through the use of category pages, stand-alone pages and hub pages, your site structure can be optimized by collecting valuable keyword research and incorporating it into these elements.

Focus on Navigation Options

Crucial for both search engines and users, navigational menus and options are a priority when designing a SEO-friendly site structure. Top level navigation menus at the top and bottom of each page are a must, as these can help users and search engines quickly established how to find (or index) pages.

For sites with a large number of pages, the use of menus that feature categories will be necessary. After all, it can be difficult for sites to effectively start pinging links by the hundreds in one simple menu. Nevertheless, breaking down menus into categories and sub-menus will allow for a larger amount of information and pages to be displayed without being overwhelming.

Getting the most of your site structure is crucial for long-term success. By pleasing both search engines and users, SEO performance can be optimized. Embracing the above recommendations can help you easily design or re-design a website that adheres to this concept.