The site structure should be optimal if its owner wants to ensure that the resource traffic is high and the latter occupies one of the leading places in search engines. This article will discuss the optimal structure, requirements for it, how to post various information on the site and some other issues.
Requirements for the site structure
They are:
- Logic. It should be such not for the developer, but for visitors to this site. He should find the information that a particular user needs, without unnecessary gestures.
- Flexibility. When constructing it, it is necessary to take into account the possibility of further changes in some of its elements by adding or deleting.
- Scalability. Growth dynamics should not lead to significant changes in the structure of the site.
- Habitual. Most users are conservative, so it is worth using those solutions thataccepted by the industry.
- Rule of 3 clicks. The main information that is of interest to the vast majority of users should be placed on the site in such a way that a visiting user can go to it from the main page of the site with no more than 3 clicks. This is especially important for search engines, since spiders are limited in nesting pages and adding them to indexed search.
- Pages that get the most searches should have more hyperlinks from other pages on the same site.
- The structure must include all required pages.
Site classification
Let's consider the main types of sites and their purpose:
- Promo site. It is a platform on which several pages are placed, which are functionally very simple and are usually performed in some kind of unique or corporate style. Purpose: provision of information about themselves and products by various business entities.
- Information site. Includes many pages that are placed in thematic categories, which makes it easier to access the necessary information. As a rule, access to them is carried out from the main page of the site. Purpose: providing visitors with information on areas of interest to them.
- Image and corporate websites. The first is created to attract new, and the second - for existing customers. Both of them are filled with the content of the activity of the economic entity, its breakthrough moments and achievements. The corporate one can be used for the purpose of internal document management, and the image one can be filled with price lists, catalogs.
- Online store. It is an online catalog of products that can be ordered directly on the website or by phone.
- Portal. It is a powerful project that hosts various media content. Initially, as a rule, it begins to function as a non-profit, later, with the attraction of a large audience, they begin to place ads on it. Requires a lot of resources, a wide bandwidth and a server with a large amount of disks and a powerful processor.
- Promo site (one page). Information is posted on the site on one page in order to promote the official website of a legal entity or individual entrepreneur, as well as to advertise goods sold by them.
- Forum. It is created on the basis of the main site for the exchange of opinions of customers or random visitors.
- Blog. It is an Internet diary, in most cases allowing users to leave comments on those entries that were left by the author. With good attendance, it makes it possible to make money on advertising.
Pages in the structure of the Internet platform
For some sites, the pages that should be present on them are determined at the legislative level. In most cases, the correct structure of the site is determined by established practice.
Let's consider what pages should be onmain types of sites.
Corporate websites
About an economic entity (enterprise, organization, firm, company, individual entrepreneur)
- Licenses (if necessary, licensing activities), documents confirming the conformity of products.
- "Services and Products".
- "Reviews" or "Partners".
- "Guarantees" (if any).
- "Price list" (if prices were not shown on other pages).
- "Contacts" (preferably with a drawn map).
Promo site
Must contain the following sections:
- "About me".
- List of products and services.
- "Prices".
- "Reviews".
- "Portfolio".
- "Contacts".
Information sites
- "About".
- Informational materials.
- User Agreement.
- "Help" - a section that describes the functionality of the site.
- "Support" - a page created in case of any shortcomings that are identified on the user's side for him to contact technical support.
- Details of an economic entity.
Online shopping
They have the following structure:
- "Catalog" of products sold.
- "About the Store".
- "Payment Options".
- "Delivery Terms".
- "Terms of return".
- "Support".
- Details of an economic entity.
Main types
Site structure in the form of a diagramclearly displays the sequence of placing pages on it and the form of their display.
The main types of structures include:
- Linear. The most simple of the existing ones. When using this site structure, there is a redirect from one page to the next. They are limited in application and are used on business card sites or simple online books. Each page is named with corresponding links to the previous and next pages.
- Tree (hierarchical) structure. From the main page there are links to the relevant sections, from them to subsections, etc. This type of structure is currently the most common. This is due to the fact that the site is easy to use and functional. With the help of this type, you can create virtually any site. The structure of the site in the form of a diagram using a tree structure as an example is shown in the figure.
- Lattice is an improved tree. Here the pages are arranged according to the principle of hierarchy, but, in addition, there is the possibility of moving between pages without returning to the previous level. For sites with a large number of pages is irrational, mainly used for online stores.
- Combined structure. It can start as a tree, then move to a linear one, etc. This can confuse the user, so this kind of structure is quite risky.
Optimization secrets
The more intricate the structure of the site, the more problems it brings to the developer. Therefore, it needs to be optimized.
It is carried out as follows:
- it is necessary to highlight those pages that receive the most traffic from search engines; do not delete or change these pages unless absolutely necessary;
- when changing the page address, you need to set up a redirect;
- if necessary, changes should be made in an evolutionary way, the breaks between the dynamics should be from 2 to 4 weeks in order to assess the effectiveness of the changes made and decide on the need for further optimization;
- large sections are best divided into smaller ones, which will attract more visitors to the site;
- if new functionality is introduced, you need to close service pages and search results from indexing; there should be no duplicates in the index;
- with a large number of pages on the site, some of the secondary ones need to be closed from indexing, which will allow adding the most valuable ones to it;
- if problems arise, in most cases they can be solved with a little refinement, for example, creating additional menus.
In closing
Site structure is a system of arranging pages according to a predetermined scheme. The better it is formed, the more comfortable visitors will feel and the more popular it will be. Use URLs that are understandable to the user when forming the structure so that he can determine what to look foron this site.
