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Siloing Is Smart Site Architecture

March 14th, 2010 |

If you have never heard of the term siloing don’t feel bad, many web developers and most of the casual computer using public hasn’t. Siloing is a common term among web developers that is used to describe a type of website architecture. Siloing is a linking strategy whose goal is to allow for multiple focuses on one website without diluting through the cross linking of subject matter. For the purpose of this post I am only going to illustrate Virtual Silos; there is also a Directory Siloing method that is accomplished very differently. If you have questions, please feel free to ask them in the comment section of this blog.

What is meant by ‘multiple focuses’?

Most websites have numerous topics that are covered by both static webpages and blog posts. Usually these topics are not separated but are jumbled together. There is a school of thought that says this jumble does not help your website’s rankings and in fact dilutes it.

How are ‘multiple focuses’ created for static pages?

Many website owners already create multiple focuses to some extent using multi-level navigation tabs. Siloing allows a website owner to organize their site’s static pages by using the ‘parent’ and ‘child’ hierarchy. The real benefit of this is to assist the search engines in indexing your site’s static page content. For example, if your site is about dogs but you have a lot of specialized information on various breeds you could create a focus (silo) for the various ‘dog breeds’. At the same time, you might create silos that focus on ‘travel requirements for dogs’, ‘various food options for dogs’, etc. The overarching or ‘meta’ focus of the site is dogs and this should be made clear on the landing page or about page. It is important that on this landing page the other major focuses of the website not only get mentioned but linked; this is in addition to the navigation tabs found on most sites. This could easily be accomplished on our dog website example through mentioning and linking your focuses, ‘dog breeds’, ‘travel requirements for dogs’, ‘various food options for dogs’, etc, in the text of the landing page.

Here is an easy to follow hierarchy of a narrowing focus for our dog website example:

Dogs

Dog Breeds

Afghan Hound

Airedale Terrier

Akita

etc.

Travel Requirements for Dogs

Various Food Options for Dogs

How is siloing accomplished for blog posts?

Just as with webpages, many website owners already create limited silos with their blog posts by putting related articles in the same categories. To avoid the jumble and create the most efficient silos for the search engines, it is best to have some categories dedicated to certain topics. In our example, a post you write about ‘common hip problems experienced by Afghan Hounds’ would go in a category dedicated to Afghan Hounds. This would also be appropriate for the ‘Dog Breeds’ category though it would help to create a cross linked jumble if place in the ‘Travel Requirements For Dogs’ category.

Are There Benefits To Further Narrowing Your Website’s Focuses?

The answer to this is yes…within reason. While more narrowly focusing a website might benefit site visitors and will benefit both SEO and SERPs, many web developers believe that you should not create a focus more than two steps beyond the site’s overarching focus; this should of course be tailored to your individual website.