Usability

Logical information architecture that is user friendly. This will enhance user experience and increase conversions.

Rankings

An intelligent structure will pass link equity to the most important pages on your site and therefore assist rankings.

Conversions

A well-thought out structure should walk the user through the conversion process, from information pages through to purchase. Throughout the design and build of your site we keep in mind how both users and search engines interact with your site.

For users, it’s about getting the most relevant content in front of them, in as few clicks as possible. The same approach can also benefit search engines; by flattening your site architecture you can make gains in indexation (more pages in a search engines index) that can lead to more organic traffic.

What Does Poor Site Architecture Look Like?

To navigate to the bottom layer, search engines and users are expected to venture down a six-click path. This depth is not ideal. Search engines will expect pages this deep to be unimportant and will therefore be less visible in search results, even for “long-tail” keywords. Users on the other hand will likely drop out before they make it to the bottom.

Creating a Flatter Site Architecture

Pages buried very deeply in the architecture will not receive enough link equity (both internally and externally) to be visibly in search engine rankings. By “flattening” the site architecture, you can promote content up the architecture and therefore improve its rank. This greatly reduces the number of clicks to the very deepest level and improves the indexation of the site.

Internal Linking

The higher the page is in your architecture, the stronger it will be. Linking from down in the architecture back up to pages higher in the hierarchy can help to prioritise the higher pages for more competitive terms. Breadcrumbs are a great way to link up the architecture, providing both more internal links and a way for search engine crawlers to navigate a website easily. Cross-linking from different categories is also a good way to promote stronger pages on your site. It can also help pass link equity across the site.

What does this mean for your site?

When designing and building your site, we keep in mind the best practices of site architecture from conception through to launch. Our platforms promote a “flat” site architecture. This, combined with the logical categorisation of your content means that your site has the most logical and usable structure possible. The impact this will have on your usability, search engine rankings and conversions will be significant.

Search function

Every page will offer a clear and obvious search function as well as free text searching to enable visitors to navigate effortlessly around the site. Results will be displayed by relevance and will offer close alternatives to accommodate mistypes.