The structure of a website is not a major factor in Google's ranking algorithm. However, a strong web structure helps search engines understand the content of your website and the relationships between different pages on your website.
A well-organized website helps your users find what they are looking for, and helps search engines understand the purpose of your website.
Flat and deep website structures
The two most common website navigation structures are flat sites and deep sites. Flat websites are websites that attempt to make each web page available with very few clicks. Deep websites are websites that use long paths to access specific pages on the site.
A deep website structure allows you to create very exact and specific pages on your website. The downside of a deep website structure is that it takes longer for website visitors and search engine crawlers to find the content they are looking for.
A flat website structure makes it easier for website visitors and search engines to find all the pages on your website. The fewer pages your visitors have to scroll through before finding the content they are looking for, the better.
How to create a good web structure
If possible, all pages on your website should be accessible with a maximum of four clicks from the main page of your site. Of course, it's also important that your website's navigation elements reflect the importance of the linked pages.
In general, it makes sense to create your website structure as follows:
- Create an overview of all the pages on your website.
- Divide your content into main categories and create a top-level navigation that contains the different types of content on your site.
- Create logical subcategories.
- If necessary, create another level of subcategories.
- Link landing pages to subcategory pages.
If you plan to create a public sitemap of your website, then your website navigation is not good enough. Although a sitemap can help search engines and website visitors find pages on your site, your website's regular navigation should be good enough that visitors don't need a sitemap.
Simple is good
Make it easy for your website visitors to find the content they need. A website with clearly organized content that can be easily understood by users and search engine crawlers will get better visibility than websites with poor information structure. Of course, the actual content of your pages and the links pointing to your pages are still very important.