Story-Based Question
You’ve recently launched a new e-commerce website for a company that specializes in outdoor gear. The site has various products such as camping tents, hiking boots, backpacks, and more. You want the site to be easy to navigate for both customers and search engines. Instead of listing all the products on one page, you decide to create different sections to categorize the gear. You need a structured approach that will make sure search engines understand how your content is grouped. How should you structure your content silos to help with both user experience and SEO?
Exact Answer
To structure a content silo on a website, group related content into distinct categories (silos) and organize each silo with clear parent and child pages. The parent pages should focus on broad topics, while the child pages dive deeper into specific subtopics. Ensure internal links are used to connect pages within the same silo.
Explanation
When structuring a content silo, the goal is to make your website’s content logically organized so that both users and search engines can easily navigate and understand the site’s structure. Here’s a step-by-step approach to structuring your content silos:
- Create Broad Parent Pages:
These pages should cover a broad topic that represents the main theme of the silo. For example, in your outdoor gear website, you might have parent pages like “Camping Gear,” “Hiking Gear,” and “Climbing Gear.” Each of these pages will act as a category for a range of related products and content. - Add Detailed Child Pages:
Each parent page will link to several child pages that cover more specific topics related to the parent category. For example, under the “Camping Gear” parent page, you could have child pages like “Camping Tents,” “Sleeping Bags,” “Camping Stoves,” etc. These pages will go into more detail and target specific keywords. - Organize Content Based on Relevance:
Content that falls within the same theme should be grouped together. If your parent page is about camping, all content related to camping—like blogs, product pages, and tips—should link back to this page. This creates a logical structure and helps both users and search engines understand the relationship between pages. - Use Internal Linking Within the Silo:
Each page in a silo should link to other pages within the same silo. For instance, the “Camping Tents” page can link to the “Camping Stoves” page. This helps search engines recognize that these pages are related and boosts the relevance of all pages within the silo. It also helps improve your site’s crawlability. - Focus on Relevant Keywords:
Make sure each silo is optimized for relevant keywords. The parent page should target more general keywords (e.g., “Camping Gear”), while the child pages should target more specific long-tail keywords (e.g., “Best Camping Tents for Winter”). This ensures your site ranks for a broad range of related keywords. - Create a Clear Navigation System:
It’s important that the navigation bar on your website reflects your silo structure. When visitors come to your site, they should be able to easily find the main categories (parents) and navigate to the subcategories (children) from the menu or links.
Example
For your outdoor gear e-commerce site, here’s how you could structure the silos:
- Parent Page: Camping Gear
- Keywords: “Camping Gear,” “Camping Equipment,” “Outdoor Camping”
- Links to child pages like:
- “Camping Tents”
- “Sleeping Bags”
- “Camping Stoves”
- “Camping Chairs”
- “Camping Backpacks”
- Parent Page: Hiking Gear
- Keywords: “Hiking Gear,” “Hiking Equipment,” “Best Hiking Gear”
- Links to child pages like:
- “Hiking Boots”
- “Hiking Backpacks”
- “Hiking Poles”
- “Hiking Jackets”
- “Best Hiking Trails”
- Parent Page: Climbing Gear
- Keywords: “Climbing Gear,” “Rock Climbing Equipment,” “Climbing Accessories”
- Links to child pages like:
- “Climbing Ropes”
- “Climbing Shoes”
- “Climbing Chalk”
- “Climbing Harnesses”
In each of these parent pages, you would also link to relevant blog posts, guides, and customer reviews, creating a rich network of related content that strengthens the SEO for both the parent and child pages.