Website Structures That Search Engines LOVE

Your website design isn’t just about how it looks; it’s also about how it’s built and organised. A website’s structure plays a huge role in how well it performs in search and this is why the planning stage is so important in a website design project.

In this article, we’ll look at website structure as a whole, delving deep into why it’s important for SEO and practical improvements you can make today to help boost your visibility across search engines.

What Does “Website Structure” Mean?

Website structure refers to how your site’s pages are organised and linked together. More specifically, this is the hierarchy of your pages, your navigation setup, how your internal links connect pages, URL structure, pagination and breadcrumb trails.

All of these elements of your website structure aid your user journey, helping them find what they’re looking for and guiding them towards the desired end result. This is why a strong structure helps both visitors and search engines.

How Website Design & Site Structure Has an Impact on SEO

There are 4 major ways your site’s structure influences visibility and rankings:

1. Crawlability & Indexability

Search engines use links to discover pages, both internal and external links. A clear structure means crawlers can find each page and decide whether to index it.

For example, Google emphasises that links must use crawlable <a href> markup and sensible anchor text so that pages are discoverable. If pages require too many clicks to reach them or have zero internal links, they may not get crawled or indexed efficiently.

2. Additional Context

Organising pages logically with categories, sub-categories and related content, as well as internal linking and page hierarchy, is also important. This practice helps search engines understand the context behind each page, how it relates to other pages and its importance.

Other factors that support this are anchor text, breadcrumb navigation and clear URL structures.

3. Build Authority Across Pages

There are many different ways to build authority for your website, however external backlinks to specific pages can affect authority distribution. Internal linking can help pass link equity from higher-authority pages to other pages to evenly distribute authority across your site.

4. User Experience

User experience is a contributing ranking to search rankings. By providing a clear layout and navigation alongside internal links to related content, you will encourage better engagement and more page views. With these positive signals, search engines will reward your site for a good user experience.

What Are The Different Website Structures?

There are 4 common website structures used:

1. Hierarchical
2. Database
3. Sequential
4. Matrix

1. Hierarchical

The most common website structure is hierarchical. It is often described as a tree-like structure, where the homepage is the top of the tree and brands into categories, followed by sub-categories. It is frequently used for business and eCommerce websites.

2. Database

A database website structure is where content is filtered via database queries. This means pages exist dynamically based on combinations of attributes, such as marketplace filters. It is commonly used by large classifieds and directories where users browse by many facets.

3. Sequential

A sequential website structure is a linear step-by-step structure whereby the user is guided through a specific journey, from page to page. It is normally used for online surveys, checkout pages or websites with limited content to streamline the decision-making process.

4. Matrix

A matrix website structure is the opposite of a sequential structure as there is no predefined journey for the user. It has multiple pathways with an interconnected web of pages so users can take control of their own experience. This is usually adopted by large content sites such as resource libraries and knowledge bases.

If you’re unsure which structure works best for your business’ website, then an experienced UX designer will be able to advise you.

Further Structural Improvements & Best Practices

Beyond choosing the right overall structure, here are some practical improvements to consider so your site structure is more SEO-friendly:

• Add tags or descriptive labels to pages so subject and context is clear
• Group similar content within categories so search engines can easily see topical depth and relevance
• Add pagination and breadcrumbs to improve navigation, reduce depth, and help indexing
• As well as your main navigation, remember to add a footer menu with key links so authority flows and key sections are easy to find
• Make sure important pages are easily reachable within a couple of clicks from the homepage
• Choose keyword-rich, clear URL structure e.g., /services/seo-consulting/ rather than /page123/, so both users and search engines understand the content
• Create an XML sitemap and submit it to Google Search Console to help search engines find all pages
• Use breadcrumbs to reinforce hierarchy and navigation for both users and crawling bots
• Ensure technical SEO elements are covered such as optimising images, internal links, schema markup, responsiveness, and site speed as these help ensure the structure you’ve built works efficiently

Site Structure Mistakes to Avoid

Even if you pick a strong structure, there are common mistakes that can impact performance:

• Orphaned Pages – Pages with no internal links pointing to them. These are hard for search engines to find and for users to discover.

• Too Many Levels – Deep navigational structures make pages harder to crawl and reduce authority flow.

• Buried Links – Neglecting internal linking, anchor text and link placement

• Ambiguity – Using ambiguous URLs, unclear navigation and multiple user paths to the same content without canonicalization can confuse search engines.

Your website’s structure is more than design; it shapes how search engines and users understand your web pages. It determines how your website is crawled, indexed, interpreted and ranked by Google and navigated and engaged with by visitors.

Choose a structure that fits your business, adopt SEO best practices and review your site for any mistakes to maximise visibility. If you need any help, our experienced professionals in both UX and SEO are on-hand to ensure your architecture supports both your users and search engines.

View our case studies or contact us right now by phone at 01473 934050, email at [email protected], or through our contact form.

Written by Joe Dodman Junior Marketing Executive

Joe Dodman is one of our Marketing Executives with a skillset that covers all areas of marketing. From design to content, SEO to website management, he loves being challenged creatively and being able to collaborate on different projects and campaigns. Outside of this, you’ll find Joe on the football field, in the gym or travelling to new places across the UK and Europe.

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