Hi, I’m Sham Shihab, a professional digital marketer and SEO expert. In this blog post, I’m going to explain why a hierarchical site structure recommended by Google is good for SEO and when it is okay to use a flat site structure with examples which I have implemented on my website www.designersham.com
Gary Illyes from Google also recently answered a question about site structure, explaining why a hierarchical site structure is good for SEO and when it’s okay to use a flat site structure. This Confirms why I have used a hierarchical site structure for the Blog page and why a flat site structure is okay for a simple homepage.
A hierarchical site structure is a way of organizing your web pages into categories and subcategories, based on the topics and keywords that you want to rank for. A hierarchical site structure helps search engines understand the relationship between your pages and the overall theme of your website. It also helps users navigate your site and find the information they need. So for my blog pages or blogging subdomain, I used a hierarchical site structure.
A flat site structure, on the other hand, is a way of organizing your web pages without any categories or subcategories, or with very few of them. A flat site structure means that most of your pages are directly linked from your homepage or from a few main pages. My actual homepage utilizes a flat site structure where it is one simple page explaining my services, skills, and recommendations.
So, why is a hierarchical site structure recommended by Google good for SEO? Here are some benefits:
- It improves your site’s crawlability. Crawlability is the ability of search engines to access and index your web pages. A hierarchical site structure makes it easier for search engines to find and crawl all your pages, especially the ones that are deeper into your site.
- It enhances your site’s relevance. Relevance is the degree to which your web pages match the search intent of users. A hierarchical site structure helps you create relevant pages for each topic and keyword that you want to target and group them together in a logical way. This way, you can signal to search engines what your site is about and what kind of queries you can answer.
- It boosts your site’s authority. Authority is the level of trust and credibility that your site has in the eyes of search engines and users. A hierarchical site structure helps you establish authority by linking your pages internally and externally. Internal links are links from one page on your site to another page on your site. External links are links from other websites to your pages. Both types of links help you pass authority and ranking signals between your pages and increase their visibility.
But, when is it okay to use a flat site structure? Here are some scenarios:
- You have a small website with few pages. If you have a website with less than 20 pages, you may not need a hierarchical site structure at all. You can simply link all your pages from your homepage or from a few main pages, and still achieve good SEO results.
- You have a large website with many pages that are equally important. If you have a website with hundreds or thousands of pages, and each page has a similar level of importance and relevance, you may opt for a flat site structure. This way, you can avoid creating too many categories and subcategories that may confuse users and dilute your authority. But there is a downside it will be difficult to find relevant topics for your search.
In conclusion, a hierarchical site structure is good for SEO because it improves your site’s crawlability, relevance, and authority. However, there are some cases where a flat site structure may be more suitable, depending on the size, type, and purpose of your website. The best way to decide which site structure to use is to analyze your goals, audience, and competitors, and choose the one that fits your needs like me.
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