Web architecture is the structure of an entire website — this is where we define how the site will be organized, how users will transition from one page to another, making navigation intuitive and easy to understand. Even for search engines, it becomes easier for bots to better understand the content of your website.
Defining a structure or architecture allows us to better understand how to build our sitemap. So let’s start from the beginning.
What is Web Architecture?
Web architecture refers to the organization of the content and information on a website, including the hierarchy and arrangement of its elements.
Web architecture is responsible for assigning priority to the topics covered on a website, including internal links. This discipline is often related to organic positioning (SEO).
Why is Web Architecture Important?
Web architecture guides the user through a website, as every user has informational needs when entering a site. It fulfills this need through menus, buttons, content continuity, flow, and other elements that facilitate the user’s understanding of the site.
Is There Only One Type of Web Architecture?
No, in fact, there are three types of web architecture that can be implemented depending on the goal you want to achieve:
Vertical Architecture
It contains few levels, and it doesn’t require many clicks within the website.
Horizontal Architecture
This type of architecture is the opposite of vertical, as it contains more levels and requires a greater number of clicks to navigate through the site. This structure is not recommended for e-commerce or online stores because it can complicate the purchasing process.
SILO Architecture
This type of architecture is characterized by having all content properly structured into categories and subcategories. It optimizes a site’s structure by organizing its content into categories that help topics relate to each other more effectively.
What Are the Benefits of a Proper Website Structure?
Applying web architecture to the development of your online content can bring many benefits, including:
- It provides a guide to help users better navigate the site, making it easier to browse.
- It creates a solid framework to measure the performance and health of a website over time.
- In terms of SEO, it helps search engine bots better understand the content of your website.
If you’re careful with how you develop and manage your web content, it becomes much easier to achieve the goals you set at the beginning of your plan. But…
What Structure Should a Website Follow?
It’s important to remember that by “web structure” we mean the way a site’s content — including text and multimedia formats — is grouped and interconnected to be presented to users who visit the site.
The idea is that visitors can find what they are looking for quickly and easily.
The importance of a website lies in having full control over it, indicating which priorities should be considered by search engines — because they can only classify what they know. This is why your content must be properly indexed by Google.
How Can I Properly Design the Web Architecture of My Site?
The following are best practices to keep in mind when designing your website’s architecture:
- Use a “Flat” Architecture:
With this type of structure, users can access any part of the website in four clicks or fewer. Flat architecture allows Google bots to find content more efficiently. An example of this would be a vertical web architecture.
- Simplicity on the Web:
Simplifying a website becomes harder the more complex it is. It’s important not to make the mistake of creating categories and subcategories and linking them without any clear logic. This makes it nearly impossible for Google bots to understand your page.
Example: If you have a category for shoes and another for hats, there’s no clear reason to link those two directly. But if you have a category about styles and fashion, then it would make sense to relate both categories under that umbrella.
- Use Categories Effectively:
Pages created as “categories” are easier to find because their organization is more straightforward and easier to understand.
- Use Internal Linking:
Web architecture is determined by how pages are linked together. Internal links connect the content of one page with that of another within your website. These links not only benefit your SEO strategy, but also enhance the user’s browsing experience, helping them discover more content of interest.
What Tools Can I Use to Develop My Web Architecture?
Notebook and Pencil
This is the most traditional method. All you need to do is grab a notebook or any piece of paper nearby, a pencil or pen, and start sketching a preview of how you want your website to be organized, including categories and subcategories.
Whimsical
Whimsical is a platform where you can collaborate in real time with other participants to create flowcharts, mind maps, mobile app structures, wireframes, website architectures, and sticky notes.
Octopus.do
With Octopus.do you can also create flowcharts that explain the connection between the pages that make up your website. It provides templates where you can add text and graphics.
Writemaps
Writemaps allows you to create your website’s sitemap, either in outline form or as simple text. The idea is to add your own pages in a hierarchical way so you can understand the structure of your site from the very beginning.
Visualsitemaps
Visualsitemaps lets you enter your website’s URL, and the application automatically generates a sitemap based on how the site is built. Once the process is complete, it displays a tree structure with screenshots of each page. It also allows you to modify or correct the site’s structure and then apply the changes directly to your website.
How to Implement Web Architecture on My Website
The site structure is implemented through directories, folders, and links.
Directories and Folders
Directories and folders group content into significantly large collections. A website’s architecture is implemented through navigation paths and navigation menus.
Navigation Path or Web Address
www.mydomain.com/category1/subcategory2/product/
The example above shows a navigation path. These are designed to help the user understand where they are located within the site, especially if they already know the structure or if someone else shared the link with them.
Navigation Menu
Los menú de navegación fueron diseñados para ayudar a decidir a los visitantes del sitio a dónde quieren ir a continuación. Dentro de este menú se le ofrece opciones como: ¿A donde desean ir ahora?
Las categorías y etiquetas
Categories and tags help us organize content and arrange it hierarchically, making it easier to search, locate, and access. In this context, the organization of categories is also often referred to as taxonomy.
Taxonomy
Taxonomy, in essence, is the science of classification. The term is used to describe how website content will be categorized and how the overall site architecture will be structured.
Links
Links make it easy to connect related content, both within and outside the site. They facilitate and speed up navigation. On a website, links are the web address or unique URL for a specific piece of content, folder, or directory. A link allows both human and non-human visitors to directly access the content.
When links have meaningful names, they help both users and search engines set expectations about what they’re likely to find at the destination, and can assist with search rankings.
Website menus and navigation paths are simply another type of link. They provide context—helping visitors get oriented quickly, track where they are, reduce the number of clicks needed to get to where they want to go, and generally make navigation easier and faster.
Some website development tools that promise to create a site in a single day offer limited control over your site’s structure. It’s recommended to consult with an SEO specialist to get informed before making a purchase decision and starting the website creation process.
What Are Common Mistakes in Website Structure?
Even if your desire to create an attractive and well-ranked website is strong, you need to be careful not to fall into certain mistakes that can make your content difficult to understand.
Avoid the mistake of creating “mega menus” that hinder the desired structuring, and poorly naming sections due to the absence of keywords, which can stall SEO efforts.Another issue involves taxonomies (the way posts and topics are grouped by categories) that overlap and end up duplicating existing content, frustrating users due to the site’s complexity.
Finally, one of the most common mistakes in web architecture is thinking that your site’s structure should remain the same forever. If content isn’t managed and structured based on how users actually search for information, visitors may become frustrated when they can’t find what they’re looking for.
In Conclusion…
Web architecture is a powerful tool for improving a website’s ranking by leveraging its design and content organization. To create good web architecture, you must first define the goals you want to achieve, design a model that helps you understand how you want to organize the site, and most importantly, categorize topics.
Remember: a well-structured website ensures that your site is attractive to search engines and easy for them to understand.
And that’s it — now you can move on to the next step: How to create a sitemap and index it on Google, where you’ll learn which tools can help in the process and how to submit the sitemap.xml file to Google so the bot can automatically detect newly created pages.