What is Silo Structure? Instructions to create a standard SEO silo structure for the website

Silo structure is an essential SEO strategy for any website. So what is the silo structure ? How important is the silo to be called an SEO war? All knowledge about Silo will be answered in this article. Follow us now!

What is Silo Structure?

Silo structure is an in-depth website design structure , the content is streamlined into separate sections. This structure is grouped into 2 main categories and subcategories. Categories with related content will be grouped together.

The more the silo structure has related content and topics together, the better the link your site will have.

Overall, there are two ways to group pages together: grouping by categories (physical silos) and internal linking groups (virtual silos).

The more relevant your content is to the topic in the silo, the more authority your site will have in the eyes of Google. If you include all user search queries in that topic then your site is shown and clicked more.

Importance of Silo Structures for SEO

We often think that search engines have great power because they can read and understand everything on the web. But that is not the case because it is the silo structure that can show us the main content and how to organize the sub-themes.

Make it easy for search engines to index

Every day, search engines will help mobilize billions of bots, to crawl and index millions of websites around the world.

The silo model has the same content, closely linked with each other. Google bot helps crawlers get the best performance, thereby increasing the authority of the website on the topic in question.

>> See also: What is Google Index ? How does Google index the site quickly?

Increase user experience

When customers visit a website, imagine your website as a book and have a silo structure that separates many separate content, that content is related to each other.

This helps users to grasp the website content and navigate easily to that website without having to return to the search engine query.

One of the most important features your website should have is clearly structured content. When customers clearly understand what your website is about and how to get the information they need, they stay longer and engage more on your site.

For example: Customers visit your website to search for information about scooters, users will see your navigation categories such as Vario 150, Click 125i, Honda PCX,… They will look at it. those categories that click to visit your site. This is also a factor for Google to appreciate your website.

By the same token, silo structure is important for SEO while providing a good user experience.

Common types of silo structures

Silo structure is divided into 2 common types: physical silo through directory and virtual silo through website links.

What is a physical silo?

The physical silo structure is where you create a category (category) and use the directory in the url structure of your website, which is easily visible to the eye.

Eg:

Articles about SEO knowledge are placed in the category https://dichvuseotongthe.com/blog/. All articles are grouped together into one category.

And the article about what is Meta Description will have the form https://dichvuseotongthe.com/blog/meta-description-la-gi/. Based on the link structure, you can understand the topic that the website wants to cover.

What is a virtual silo?

Virtual Silo structure is built by internal links (Internal Link). In a virtual content repository there will be a level 2 page that serves as a category page.

This structure is “virtual” because it is difficult to grasp. Use SEO tools like Screaming Frog or a similar tool to recognize this structure.

Read more:
>> What are internal links ? How to build internal links in virtual silos>>Guide to build Anchor Text 
strategy in Virtual Silo

Topic Cluster or Content Pillar is currently the most optimal implementation. Articles with related content are linked together via internal linking and refer to a common topic.

Building a standard SEO silo structure for the website

If your website is built on a silo structure , the SEO optimization process will be simpler.

Identify the main theme of the website

As a webmaster, besides building quality content, the first thing to do in building a silo structure is to clearly define the core topic.

You need to answer the question: What is the look of your website? What is the website aimed at? What value does the website bring to the user? Thereby, find the topic for the website.

For large enterprises, the diversity model of defining topics will be more difficult. You should clearly distinguish each area of ​​activity and design it vertically for easy management.

Research topics that complement the main topic

A large theme always covers a subtopic to clarify its context and is divided into groups of separate, closely related content.

Only by correctly identifying the main topic can you set up the right content for each subpage.

To clearly define the topic to build, you need to answer the following questions:

• What is your main business product?
• What product-related content is on the site?
• Why do people choose this product?
• Who needs to buy this product?
• What is the value of the product over the competition?
• What product problem needs to be solved?

Based on the answers, it is easy to identify a topic that is broad enough to be a large category. Smaller issues can be leveraged to generate ideas for subdirectories and form the basis for page content to exploit.

In addition, to find the right main topic, you should incorporate keyword research. To be more precise, it is necessary to apply the keyword analysis feature in google Analytics, which will be suitable for user purposes and product characteristics and business models.

Plan and design the silo . structure

Once you have defined the subtopics and the articles within each topic, you need to plan how to build the silo model. Through the web structure diagram, the plan is fully presented. Nowadays, you can build a diagram easily through Google Drawing or Powerpoint .

The diagram should clearly show the main topic, sub-topics and webpages. If it is a Blog Website you need a map for articles, and a sales website needs a category map for products.

Don’t be afraid of multi-tier silo structure , you need to think like the user, so that they have a good experience and easily navigate through your website.

Setting up the physical silo structure

The physical silo is formed based on the directory and the URL. Physical silos are easier to set up for sites that have not yet been launched. Because physical silos refer to groups of closely related pages in the same directory.

This reflects how parent and child pages appear on your site, and also what your URL structure looks like.

Think of your website as an online closet, folders are thematic sections, individual pages are documents in a directory.

Grouping closely related documents together under the same folder helps users understand the article content better and easily find everything they need.

Setting up the Virtual Silo Structure

The principle of virtual silo construction is to reinforce the physical silo . Especially in case the website needs a complete overhaul, using a virtual silo will be more feasible.

This system is created by linking topic pages and support pages discussing specific topics. Pages with links to categories form a cycle. So users are more easily attracted by similar content

Search engines when deciding on an entire website will appreciate completed links. Especially, optimizing the internal link system has the best effect of locating the landing page. Delivers strong SERP (Search Engine Results Page) performance.

In a virtual silo, the landing page and the support page are not in the same folder and the pages must be closely linked. At the same time, the landing page is the broadest topic, covering the entire content.

Comprehensive content synchronization on the website

In order to obtain an optimal silo structure , a comprehensive unified content synchronization is required . The variety of information allows covering many different related issues in the same topic. Type and form play a role in how content works in SERPs.

Adding text, images, videos, images not only adds variety, but also serves their basic purpose: ensuring user experience, proper labeling, use of relevant on-page elements Important things like caption, title, alt help search engines figure out what they are showing and your page will be awarded with the best score.

Silo structure – the structure that helps the website to rank well on search engines

>>Reference article: What are breadcrumbs ? Guide to optimizing Breadcrumbs for SEO

Above is all the knowledge about what Silo structure is that you need to master. This is one of the top key factors for your website to be on the top and sustainable later. Hopefully the article will bring useful knowledge and help you have a better overview of building a silo structure for your website.