In a Webmaster Hangout, Google’s John Mueller addressed a query regarding a site without traditional site navigation. The site has a flat architecture, relying primarily on the site map for URL discovery, rather than categories or folders.
Mueller emphasized the significance of a meaningful site architecture as an effective method to convey what the site is about to Google.
What is a Flat Site Structure?
A flat site structure means all pages are accessible with just one click from the home page. This approach has been around for quite some time.
The founder of Pubcon, Brett Tabke, who is often considered a pioneer of modern SEO, mentioned a flat site structure in 2002 in his influential article titled, “Successful Site in 12 Months with Google Alone – 26 Steps to 15k a Day – A Modern Guide to Content Marketing.”
Here is what Tabke wrote in 2002:
“Arrange the site in a logical manner with directory names hitting the top keywords you wish to hit.
You can also go the other route and just throw everything in root (this is rather controversial, but it’s been producing good long term results across many engines).”
This commentary about placing everything in the root relates to what is now recognized as a flat site architecture. The root refers to the core directory of a website, where the main page resides.
Though it was effective for certain search engines in 2002, it was always considered a niche rather than a mainstream strategy.
Theme Pyramids
The traditional site architecture, where a site’s topics transition from general phrases to more specific topics and pages, was known as a Theme Pyramid. The top of the pyramid represents the home page, while the base (comprising many pages) represents very specific topics, often referred to as long-tail keyword phrases.
Tabke’s advice to create category pages designed to rank for top keywords before narrowing down to specifics is what’s known as a Theme Pyramid. This concept was initially proposed by Tabke around 2002.
John Mueller on the Best Site Architecture
Mueller recommended adopting a site architecture with meaningful categories (similar to Tabke’s directories).
Mueller said:
“In general I’d be careful to avoid setting up a situation where normal website navigation doesn’t work. So we should be able to crawl from one URL to any other URL on your website just by following the links on the page.”
Mueller further elaborated:
“If that’s not possible then we lose a lot of context. So if we’re only seeing these URLs through your sitemap file then we don’t really know how these URLs are related to each other and it makes it really hard for us to be able to understand how relevant is this piece of content in the context of your website. So that’s one thing to watch out for.”
Context of URLs
Mueller discussed what seems to be a hierarchical site architecture (Theme Pyramid) and its role in communicating semantic relationships.
Here is the key part of his answer related to a flat style of site architecture:
“…we don’t really know how these URLs are related to each other and it makes it really hard for us to be able to understand how relevant is this piece of content in the context of your website.”
This suggests that a website can be perceived as a hierarchical structure, with the main topic on the home page and sub-topics forming the next level.
Google may analyze the site as a series of nodes and edges, where nodes represent pages and edges represent the interconnectivity based on relevant topics.
Thinking in Terms of Nodes & Edges
Here’s a visualization of a red node symbolizing a home page with categories beneath it and pages corresponding to those categories.
Thinking in terms of nodes and edges provides clarity on why a traditional hierarchical structure is beneficial. The meaning and relationships between categories and their pages become evident when visualized this way.
Fluid Site Architecture
Some sites employ categories without clear meaning, such as using a single letter to denote a category. Instead of using /blue/blue-widgets.html, the structure might be /b/blue-widgets.html.
This approach aims for a more fluid site architecture, potentially with Google overlooking the /b/ and focusing on the full URL or other category names. However, this might be ineffective as it prioritizes search engines over users. Ultimately, prioritizing user experience is usually the optimal approach since Google evaluates and ranks web pages from a user’s perspective.
Semantic Relatedness, Meaning, and Context
Mueller’s response underscores the benefit of organizing categories semantically. Employing meaningful category names communicates the context and significance of the pages to both users and Google.
