Optimising website structure for SEO

Most SEO advice focuses on keywords and backlinks. But there is something that sits underneath all of it, and if you get it wrong, nothing else works as well as it should. That something is your website structure.

Website structure is how your pages are organised and connected. Good structure is why Google can crawl your whole site in minutes. Bad structure is why visitors bounce after one page and why half your content never ranks for anything.

The good news is that fixing it is not complicated. You do not need to be a developer. You just need a plan. Here is how to build one.

Plan your page hierarchy first

Before you change any code, plan your site first. You can draw it on paper, write it in a document, or use a whiteboard. It does not matter how you do it, as long as you can see all the pages at once. Keep the structure simple with no more than three levels:

• Level 1: Your homepage
• Level 2: Your main category pages (services, portfolio, about, contact, blog)
• Level 3: Individual pages inside each category (a specific service, a single case study, one blog post)

Every page should fit somewhere in this structure. If a page does not fit, you may not need it, or you may need to add a new section. Try to keep things close to the homepage. A good rule is no page should be more than three clicks from your homepage. A visitor should be able to find any page in three clicks or less. If it takes more than that, most people will not keep looking.

Use clear, flat URLs

Your URLs are part of your site structure. They should show both people and search engines where they are on your site.

• Good URL:
  yoursite.co.uk/services/web-design
• Bad URL:
  yoursite.co.uk/page?id=284&cat=7

Keep URLs short and clear. Use real words, not numbers or codes. Use hyphens between words, not underscores. Stick to lowercase. Make sure each URL matches the structure you planned. Once a URL is live, try not to change it. If you do, any links pointing to that page can break. If you have to change it, set up a 301 redirect so the old link sends people to the new page.

Build strong internal links

Internal links are links between pages on your own site. They help Google move around your site and see which pages are most important.

Link more often to the pages that matter most to you. If your web design page is important, link to it from your homepage, blog posts, portfolio and about page. When you add a new blog post, link it to other related posts and to your main service pages. Each new page helps strengthen your site if you connect it properly.

Avoid using vague link text like click here or read more. Use descriptive anchor text instead. If you are linking to a page about brand identity, the link text should say brand identity or something close to it. This helps Google and your visitors understand what the page is about.

Create a proper navigation menu

Your main menu is one of the first things people see and one of the first things Google checks. Keep it simple and clear. Aim for five to seven items. If you add too many, it becomes hard to use. You can group some pages in dropdowns, but do not hide important pages too deep.

Your menu links should match your main sections, like services, portfolio, about, contact and blog. If a page is not important enough to be in the main menu, it probably should not be a main section. Also use your footer. It works as a second menu and is a good place for pages like privacy policy, terms, sitemap and extra service pages.

Add a sitemap

There are two types of sitemap and it is best to have both.

An XML sitemap is a file that lists all your pages in a way search engines can read. You send it to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools so they know what to crawl. If you use WordPress, plugins like Rank Math or Yoast can create this for you.

An HTML sitemap is a normal page on your site that lists your main pages for visitors. It helps people find things if they get lost. We have one on our own site at web-designlondon.co.uk/site-map if you want to see what it looks like.

Both sitemaps help search engines find pages they might otherwise miss, especially on bigger sites.

Use breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs are the small links at the top of a page that show where you are, like:

Home > Services > Web design

They help people see where they are and go back to other pages. They can also show in Google results, which can make more people click your site. If you use WordPress, most SEO plugins can add breadcrumbs for you. If not, ask your developer to set them up. It is a small change, but it helps a lot.

Fix orphan pages

An orphan page is a page on your site that no other page links to. Google may not find it, and visitors cannot reach it at all. To find these pages, use a tool like Screaming Frog or Ahrefs. Check the pages the tool finds and compare them with your sitemap. If a page is in your sitemap but not in the crawl, it is likely an orphan.

When you find one, either add links to it from relevant pages or delete it if it is not useful. Orphan pages do not help your site and just take up space.

Group related content into pillar pages and clusters

A pillar page is a long page that covers a broad topic. Around it, you have smaller pages (cluster pages) that each focus on one part of that topic. All the smaller pages link back to the pillar page and the pillar page links out to them. For example, a pillar page might be: SEO for small businesses, with cluster pages on keyword research, site structure, link building, local SEO and technical SEO.

This structure helps Google understand your site. It sees that you cover the topic in depth and which page is the main one. The pillar page can rank for bigger search terms, while the cluster pages rank for more specific searches.

Keep an eye on page speed

Structure affects speed. If your site has many pages but no clear layout, it can be slow to crawl and sometimes slow to load. You can check your speed with Google PageSpeed Insights. If a page takes more than three seconds to load, many visitors will leave. You can fix this by making images smaller, using fewer plugins and choosing a good hosting service. These are simple changes, but they make a big difference together.

Test and keep improving

Website structure is not a one time job. Your site grows. You add services, publish blog posts, launch new pages. Every few months, go back to your hierarchy plan and check it still makes sense.

Open Google Search Console and look at the Coverage report. It will show you which pages are indexed, which are not and why. Anything not indexed is a clue that something about your structure is not working.

Final thoughts about SEO friendly web design techniques

Website structure is the foundation of good SEO. Get it right and everything else you do, the keywords, the content, the backlinks, works harder. Start with your page hierarchy. Clean up your URLs. Link your pages together properly. Add a sitemap and breadcrumbs. Fix your orphan pages. None of this is glamorous, but it is what separates sites that rank from sites that do not.

If you want a professional pair of eyes on your website structure, we can help. Contact us today and let’s build a website that works for your business and for search engines.