You may have heard content siloing recommended as an effective way to structure your site for search engines.<\/p>\n
But siloing, by its strictest definition, can actually limit your site\u2019s performance and usefulness.<\/p>\n
In this article, we\u2019ll explain silo SEO and how it works. Then we\u2019ll cover why it\u2019s not such a good idea and how to optimize your site architecture instead.<\/p>\n
Silo SEO is a form of\u00a0website architecture<\/a>\u00a0that involves grouping content by topic into self-contained sections of your website.<\/p>\n Content within each group (or \u201csilo\u201d) is interlinked, but the key part of this strategy is that silos remain isolated and don\u2019t link between each other.<\/p>\n Creating a hierarchy of pages on your site and connecting them is part of\u00a0technical SEO<\/a>\u2014a search engine optimization process that makes your site easier to crawl and index.<\/p>\n So, what does a silo structure look like?<\/p>\n Let\u2019s say you have a gardening blog for\u00a0content marketing<\/a>\u00a0purposes. From your homepage, you split your site into distinct categories (silos).<\/p>\n You might have these three category pages:<\/p>\n Everything you write about seeds will fall under the \u201csowing seeds\u201d silo. And you\u2019ll link posts within this silo to each other.<\/p>\n For example, say you have an article about the best seeds to sow in the summer. You can link from that to articles on the best seeds to sow in the spring, fall, and winter.<\/p>\n The same process goes for posts in the \u201cplant care\u201d and \u201cgardening equipment\u201d silos.<\/p>\n This means your gardening site structure would look something like this:<\/p>\n With this structure, you don\u2019t link between articles in separate silos even if there\u2019s thematic overlap.<\/p>\n For example, if you have a post on organic gardening, you can\u2019t link to anything about seasonal planting, as that sits under \u201csowing seeds.\u201d<\/p>\n Just like a physical silo, a virtual silo for website content must stand alone.<\/p>\n A silo structure is good for site owners, website users, and search engines. It helps you organize your content and build authority in your niche. Users can more easily find what they need. And search engine bots (site crawlers) can assess your site more easily.<\/p>\n Here are some of the perceived benefits:<\/p>\n If you\u2019re creating a website for the first time or want to make your site easier for\u00a0search engines to crawl<\/a>, silos are a simple concept to understand and implement.<\/p>\n The clearly organized internal linking structure helps search engine crawlers discover and index new pages:<\/p>\n A crawler lands on one of your pages, then follows the pages it links to. This helps it understand what the page\u2014and your site\u2014is about. All the pages add context and authority to each other. The more pages you have on a topic, the more authority you can build on it.<\/p>\n A silo structure gives your web pages a logical hierarchy. This improves user experience (UX) by making it easier for visitors to find the information they need.<\/p>\n Using internal links to connect posts and landing pages on similar topics helps users navigate between pages and keeps them on your site longer.<\/p>\n When you organize your content into silos, it grows your\u00a0topical authority<\/a>. That\u2019s the measure of how trustworthy, or credible, your website content is.<\/p>\n The more high-quality content you provide on a topic, the bigger the impact on your topical authority.<\/p>\n Covering individual topics related to a niche in individual silos helps Google understand how the pages in each silo connect. This establishes you as an authoritative source on those topics for search engines as well as website visitors.<\/p>\n To create authoritative content, follow Google\u2019s quality guidelines. That means writing content that shows experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness\u00a0(E-E-A-T)<\/a>:<\/p>\n Silos limit where the internal links on your website can point to.<\/p>\n If you can\u2019t link relevant information across your site, visitors may return to the search engine results pages (SERPs<\/a>) to look for related content, and end up on rival sites.<\/p>\n This could result in missed opportunities for leads or conversions.<\/p>\n For example, imagine we had a silo for keyword optimization, and another for competitor research.<\/p>\n A prospect found us via a page on keyword optimization. But they also want help with their competitor research.<\/p>\n If the content on the keyword optimization page doesn\u2019t link to competitor research even if it\u2019s relevant, that prospect may think we can\u2019t help them with both. So they may go to a competitor instead.<\/p>\n Some experts also argue that siloed content is planned and artificial.<\/p>\n Because search engines are increasingly looking for more human-focused ways of grading content, you\u2019ll get more value out of natural linking that people find useful or logical.<\/p>\n Content silos also risk orphan pages. This is when none of the other pages on your site link to a page.<\/p>\n Users can only find orphan pages if they have the direct URL or visit your sitemap.<\/p>\n Crawlers may also find it challenging to add context to the page. As a result, the page could suffer in the SERPs and get fewer visitors.<\/p>\n Google Search Advocate John Mueller says, \u201cInternal linking is super critical for SEO<\/a>\u201d because it helps search engines discover and rank your content pages.<\/p>\n Search engines want natural links that humans find useful or logical in the context of your content. This is different to how search engines used to organize and grade webpages.<\/p>\n A more natural internal linking strategy helps to avoid orphan pages, because you can link from any page on your site to any other page.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what an\u00a0internal link<\/a>\u00a0(the clickable orange\u00a0anchor text<\/a>) looks like:<\/p>\n While\u00a0link building<\/a>\u00a0focuses on getting external links to your site, internal links create website structure and can guide visitors and crawlers to your most important pages.<\/p>\n \u201cImportant\u201d to you could be a high-converting landing page. Or an article that gives you a competitive edge.<\/p>\n Google\u2019s\u00a0SEO Starter Guide<\/a>\u00a0stresses the importance of creating a \u201cnaturally flowing hierarchy\u201d:<\/p>\n The guide says all of your site\u2019s pages should be reachable through links and that you should help users discover similar content.<\/p>\n Linking from one page to another also gives Google (and readers) more context about that page.<\/p>\n For Google, this helps explain the page\u2019s relevance, which can affect how that page ranks in SERPs.<\/p>\n Using internal links makes it easier for users to learn more from related pages with a single click.<\/p>\n So if an article touches on a topic, but doesn\u2019t fully explain it because it\u2019s outside of the scope of the piece, you can use an internal link to point the user to somewhere they can learn more.<\/p>\n The user gets to learn more with a click, and you get to mention related topics without explaining them in full.<\/p>\n Topic clusters<\/a>\u00a0are an alternative to content silo architecture. They\u2019re a group of related content (blogs, landing pages, etc.) centered on a common topic.<\/p>\n Each cluster has a\u00a0pillar page<\/a>\u00a0as its central hub. These pieces of content provide a broad overview of the topic and link to the related pages.<\/p>\n Both silos and topic clusters segment content by category. Both also help you organize your content to become an authority site on particular topics. Because of these similarities, people often use the two terms interchangeably.<\/p>\n But there\u2019s one significant difference: you can link between topic clusters.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how the two methods compare:<\/p>\n Once you link outside the silo architecture,\u00a0you break the rules of siloing<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Topic clusters are a way to maintain a clear structure while getting all the benefits of internal linking.<\/p>\n Basing your entire site architecture on a silo structure can be an effective SEO strategy\u2014but only if you loosen the rules and allow interlinking between silos (like with topic clusters).<\/p>\n Here are four ways to create a logical hierarchy and organize your content on your site:<\/p>\n Structuring your content to prioritize top-level topics and then linking down to\u00a0long-tail versions<\/a>\u00a0helps you rank for all relevant keywords.<\/p>\n For example, you might have an ultimate guide that covers the most popular digital marketing strategies. This parent page would be your\u00a0pillar<\/strong>.<\/p>\n From here, you\u2019d have separate\u00a0cluster<\/strong>\u00a0pages<\/strong>\u00a0that cover the sub-topics within the pillar page. In this case, there might be posts for SEO strategies, social media, and paid ads.<\/p>\n Each cluster page links back to the pillar page and you interlink these posts, too.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what that looks like:<\/p>\n Instead of keeping each silo separate, you interlink clusters or pillars.<\/p>\n For example, say you have a pillar page for SEO basics, as in the above example. Now say you also have a pillar page for content basics, and linked to that, a cluster page on content creation.<\/p>\n You could offer more value and keep visitors on your site by linking from the content creation page to the keyword research cluster page under SEO basics.<\/p>\n When your pillar pages rank, you get multiple SEO benefits like backlinks and traffic.<\/p>\n Because you link your clusters (AKA child pages) to these pillars, they get some of the benefits passed on (known as \u201clink juice\u201d).<\/p>\n Once you implement pillars and topic clusters, you\u2019ll find all your content is no more than a few clicks away from your homepage.\u00a0But only if you interlink everything correctly<\/strong>.<\/p>\n If you aren\u2019t sure which keywords to use for topic clusters, try Semrush\u2019s\u00a0Keyword Manager<\/a>.<\/p>\n Click the green \u201cCreate list\u201d button to get started.<\/p>\n Next, input a seed keyword around which to base your search. For this example, we\u2019ll use \u201cplan a trip to Disney World.\u201d<\/p>\n Add your domain and click \u201cCreate list<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n The Keyword Manager will display relevant keywords. And automatically sort into groups by topic.<\/p>\n These groups are called\u00a0keyword clusters<\/a>.<\/p>\n Assign one keyword cluster (rather than one keyword) to each page in your topic cluster. Then, you can optimize your content accordingly.<\/p>\n So you can rank for a wider variety of relevant keywords.<\/p>\n Organize Keywords by Similarity<\/p>\n with the Keyword Manager Tool<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Another way to help your pages rank is to optimize their URL structure for SEO. Using\u00a0subdirectories (or subfolders)<\/a>\u00a0instead of subdomains can increase your traffic and visibility.<\/p>\n Google says\u00a0it\u2019s fine to use either<\/a>.<\/p>\n But search engines may not share your link juice from content on your primary domain with your subdomain. Which could make it harder to rank higher.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what happened when SEO consultant Andy Chadwick\u00a0moved his blog from a subdomain<\/a>\u00a0to a folder on his main domain:<\/p>\n In this case, organic traffic more than doubled.<\/p>\n A similar trend happened when one of SEO expert\u00a0Stephen Kenwright\u2019s clients did the same<\/a>:<\/p>\n Here, visibility more than tripled.<\/p>\n Switching your subdomains to subfolders doesn\u2019t guarantee you\u2019ll see the same results.<\/p>\n But Kenwright\u00a0noted in a subsequent tweet<\/a>, \u201cI have never seen the opposite happen when that switch is made.\u201d<\/p>\n Here are a few tips on how to optimize your URLs using subdomains:<\/p>\n While optimized URLs are great for navigation, internal links are still key to optimizing site structure.<\/p>\n John Mueller\u2019s\u00a0comments on social media<\/a>\u00a0echo this theory:<\/p>\n Interlinking posts in a hierarchy helps search engines give more visibility to your important pages. This also improves your UX, because it\u2019s easier for them to find related subjects, services, and links on your site.<\/p>\n John Mueller says that the\u00a0number of clicks from your homepage<\/a>\u00a0to another page tells Google how important it is.<\/p>\n A\u00a0flat hierarchy<\/strong>\u00a0structure (when you link all pages on a site directly to the homepage) is a popular strategy for keeping content close to the homepage. But it makes it harder for Google to know which pages to prioritize.<\/p>\n Grouping content into pillar pages and topic clusters gives Google clear instructions on page distinctions.<\/p>\n Creating a hierarchy helps the search engine\u00a0give your important pages more visibility<\/strong>. For instance, you might link pages in a pyramid-type linking structure that puts important content at the top and branches out.<\/p>\n A pyramid structure helps you avoid burying your important pages under layers of content.<\/p>\n For instance, a big ecommerce site with thousands of products can use this structure so they don\u2019t end up with any pages that are 20 clicks deep and hard to find.<\/p>\n\n
The Argument for SEO Silo Structure<\/h2>\n
Simplified Site Structure<\/h3>\n
Easier Navigation<\/h3>\n
Builds Topical Authority<\/h3>\n
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The Problem with Content Silos<\/h2>\n
The Importance of Internal Linking<\/h2>\n
Content Silos vs. Topic Clusters<\/h2>\n
How to Optimize Your Site Architecture for Search Engines<\/h2>\n
1. Create Organized Content Pillars<\/h3>\n
2. Use Subdirectories to Create Meaningful URLs<\/h3>\n
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3. Bridge Your Site with Internal Links<\/h3>\n