A Guide to Silo Structure

To get your website recognized by Google, you can use a silo structure. Of all the various types of website structures, the silo is one that prioritizes the principle of a neat and organized site.

To find out more about what kind of structure silo is, its advantages, and how to optimize a website using this structure, check out the guide below.

What is Silo Structure?

A silo structure is a website architecture model that groups, isolates, and connects content within the same specific topic. This means that every piece of content on the website will be grouped with other content that has a similar topic.

The purpose of implementing a silo structure is to make it easier for search engines to understand the topic of your website. The more topic-specific content you create, the more relevant your website will be to that topic in the eyes of Google.

A website that uses the silo will be considered a website that has expertise, authority, and trust in a particular topic. This concept is referred to as E-A-T (expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness).

Google will give a high ranking in search results (SERP) to websites that have EAT on a specific topic. Therefore, you can use silo structures to build EAT-able websites and master all the keywords that exist in a specific topic.

Silo Structure Advantages

Basically, every website has a flat structure or horizontal architecture that has no content categories. The common one being used is different from the silo or deep site structure, which groups websites by topic.

The silo structure is more recommended, especially if you want to gain topical authority. Here are some of the advantages of silo structures compared to other types of website architecture:

Easy Website Navigation

Silo structures make website navigation easier for users to understand. This is because each website's content is grouped into one category with the same topic.

If users want to read content related to a topic, they just need to open a category related to it. This will make it easier for users to find the information they need. 

Connecting Internal Links

Another optimization practice for this type of website structure is to use internal links to connect each piece of content to the same topic.

Users will stay on the website longer because each piece of content has internal links that are connected to other related content. Thus, if a user wants to read more about a topic, they will click the internal link.

Helping Optimization with Relevant Keywords

Having your website built with silo helps you optimize keywords that are relevant to the website's topic. This is because the structure manages to increase your website's authority on a particular topic.

When your website has high authority on a topic, it will be easier for your website to get ranked for every keyword related to it.

Deciding Topics for Website Content Easily

Websites that use silo structures will never run out of content ideas because this type of structure makes it easier for you to dig into a topic very deeply.

Perform analysis to find information that is still missing on your website regarding a topic. You can also create complementary content from content that you have already created.

Increasing Rank on the SERP

Content with relevant topics in the silo will be connected to each other via internal links. This relationship between content can build context that makes it easier for Google to understand the topic.

If Google sees that your website is discussing a lot of topics related to a particular niche, then Google will assume that your website has expertise in that niche. It means that your website will get a higher rank and authority in that area.

You also need to pay attention to other aspects related to determining a website's ranking on Google. So that regular website optimization activities can run optimally, be aware of the latest Google search ranking updates.

How to Perform Optimization Using Silo Structure

If you want to create a website silo structure, then learn about the following best practices that will improve your rankings and make the navigation easier:

Decide the Main Topic of Your Website

It's a good idea to determine the main topic on which you will create content for a website. It must be relevant to the business or consumer because, ultimately, the goal is to grow your business.

If the website is already running and has a lot of content, you can consider the content that gets the most organic traffic as a consideration when choosing the main topic. Keep in mind that a website can have several main topics.

Categorize Content into Groups

After the main topic is determined, then you can create a category or subfolder for each topic that will be used. The form of the subfolders is as follows:

www.example.com/pizza
www.example.com/spaghetti
www.example.com/hamburger

Once each category is created, you can create content and place it in subfolders with related topics. For example, www.example.com/pizza/how-to-make-pizza.

Build Internal Linking

When creating a website silo structure, you need to determine the internal link flow that connects the pages. A good link flow will connect pages based on the relevance of their discussion.

If a page has no relevance to other pages, even though both are on the same topic, then you must not link the two through internal links. This way, the context of the discussion surrounding your content will be stronger and users will be more interested in visiting the links listed.

Adding Content in Each Silo

Always add new content or update old content on each website topic. You will always find information gaps that have not been discussed on the website. You must always fill the gap with content so that your website has topical authority.

Things to Remember about Silo Structure

When building a website silo structure, there are a few tips that you should always keep in mind. These tips are important because they will affect the success of creating the structure of your website.

User Interest

Google recommends every website manager prioritize the interests of users over search engines. Therefore, you need to create a structure that makes users feel comfortable when browsing the website.

When the user's interests are met, the response they give will certainly have an impact on the website, so that your website's performance in the SERP will increase.

User Experience

To ensure that your website structure already has a good user experience, then avoid website navigation that is too deep. That is, every page on the website must be easily accessible and load quickly.

Make sure that users can reach all the pages of the website with just three clicks or less from the main page of the website. These tips are also useful for search engines when doing web crawling.

Balanced Number of Content

If your website has several main topics, then make sure that each topic has an equal amount of content. Do not let the amount of content on one topic be higher in numbers than the other topics.

The amount of content that is not balanced will make your other topics sink. This will certainly make it difficult for you to get an EAT on that topic.

URL Naming

URL links are one of the most important aspects of creating a website structure. Make sure that implementing the silo doesn't make each page's link URL longer.

If the URL is too long, it will be difficult for users to memorize or type in the URL. As a rule, the number of words in the slug should not be more than seven words.

Thus, the discussion of the silo structure guidelines about its advantages and how to optimize it. Apply these guidelines so that your website has good navigation and can get high rankings on specific topics.

To maximize website performance, you can use SEO Services from cmlabs. We have SEO professionals who are ready to assist you in implementing the right website structure for your website.