Whether you run a small or large business, your website should appear clean and organized to improve its ranking on the SERP and increase its visibility on Google. How can this be done? By “siloing”! Siloing is important for SEO to enhance user experience and make it simpler for users to explore a website and locate the content they’re looking for.
Silos for SEO is an excellent approach to raise your website’s position in local searches, but they can be challenging to put together. This guide will show you how to create SEO silos for your local website, why these have become so popular, the best practices, and the limitations you should be aware of.
What is Silo Structure?
It is an approach that involves categorizing website material into particular categories or topics to assist search engines in understanding the structure and content of the website. They are often made by gathering relevant content on a website and interlinking it within a website.
To better explain, let’s use the example of a fitness website. A fitness website might include separate silos for topics like diet, exercise, and equipment. The pages within each silo would be linked together to form a logical and consistent structure, and each silo would contain content that is relevant to that particular topic.
So what you get is a collection of linked, relevant content on a website.
But why is it so popular?
One of the most important reasons it is popular and siloing matters so much in SEO is its ability to help Google find your website. Internal links can help Google find new pages, and siloing does just that. A logical hierarchical structure will eventually be created by interlinking all the pages on your websites, which can be achieved by adding internal links.
Second, siloing will improve the rankings of your websites. PageRank, a method through which Google ranks a page depending on its quality and quantity, typically affects this. As siloing includes both backlinks and internal links, there is a better PR flow between the pages containing silo. As siloing creates internal links between two pages that are linked to one another, it also offers more relevant internal linkages. So, the more relevant links you provide through siloing, the better chance your website has of ranking.
By improving the information architecture of your website, SEO silos provide a positive user experience. Arranging your content this way can also make it easier to develop unique content consistently.
Local Content Silo
A user’s targeted location and surrounding locations are taken into account when Google’s algorithms present suggestions. Local content silos can be useful if you wish to outrank your competitors in areas where you don’t have a presence for your business. Your website needs to be optimized for the targeted location if you want to increase the visibility of your website. You just have to create localized content around the specific area and build microsites for each location that don’t overlap with each other. Does it sound too confusing? Let’s learn how to build silos for local website.
Building silos for local website
Okay, so if you are planning to use an SEO silo for a local website, then you will have to focus on the number of websites you have.
Taking a look at some of your local competitor’s websites through competitive analysis can help you understand how they are structuring their sites, and how you can improve upon the format.
With one location
Suppose your client has only one location, then you will not need any sub-folders which is location-specific. You will only have to use the root website to initiate the local relevancy since there is a single location. In such a scenario, your website URL will look like this –
site.com/ service-name-location
dentist.com/tooth-cleaning-Miami
In this case, you have hyper-localized the service pages since your client only provides dentist services in Miami. You will create different service pages in the same way.
With multiple locations
Now, if your client has multiple locations, then you will have to create a sub-folder based on the different locations. The URL structure for this will be –
Site.com/location/service-name
Dentist.com/Miami/tooth-cleaning
Dentist.com/Miami/braces
Dentist.com/Fort-Lauderdale/tooth-cleaning
Dentist.com/Fort-Lauderdale/braces
Here I have mentioned two different locations offering two services. Now that you have these pages, you will have to opt for different designs for the locations and different page templates for the service pages.
Things to consider while building SEO silos
When it comes to the content of each of these pages, do not make the mistake of using similar text even for the same services. For example, your client provides a tooth cleaning service in both Miami and Fort Lauderdale. The content for these pages would be similar but different in structure.
Add Google Maps links along with office hours and other location-specific information to make the pages unique. You can include Hyperlocal texts such as local landmarks to create a difference in the pages.
One important thing that you have to do is that each of the location pages should have a verified Google My Business listing. For this, you will need a physical location with a verified address. Without this, Google will not rank the page and you will also not be able to drive traffic.
You can only create an SEO Silo structure for the local business website if you follow the above-mentioned steps, all together with the Google My Business listing process.
Drawbacks of SEO Silos
Implementing content silos can be a powerful strategy for improving local SEO, but there are also pitfalls you can expect while implementing this strategy. Internal linking across silos is one of the major drawbacks of SEO silos. So if a dentist is practicing in Miami, you cannot link internally and show that they are practicing in Fort Lauderdale too. If you link internally between silos, they won’t be called silos at all.
Users won’t be able to switch between silos on a website whose silo architecture is restricted to a hierarchical arrangement. This is an obvious example of a website’s architecture not giving a good user experience.
SEO Silos best practices
To make full use of an SEO silo, you need to understand the best practices you should implement in order to utilize all its benefits. Some excellent techniques to think about are listed below:
Implement a pyramid structure
A pyramid structure is a clear way to divide your content in a hierarchical manner. With the help of this framework, you can arrange your information according to what is most important to appear first. So, the most important information will be presented first, followed by the second, third, and so on.
The use of a pyramid structure will make it easier for users to explore your website, allowing them to enter the home page, select a category, and explore more. The most important and relevant content will remain at the top to attract more backlinks to the site, resulting in a positive PageRank flow.
Last but not least, websites will have more contextual internal links that refer to their corresponding subcategories and vice versa.
Link internally where relevant
Though with an SEO silo structure, there is no possibility of contextual opportunities outside of the silo, however by using a pyramid structure, it’s possible to overcome this challenge. If you have some similarities between the two subcategories of your website, you can link internally between the two pages.
To identify appropriate internal linking options, you can use Ahrefs’ Site Audit option and use the Link Opportunities tool, which will highlight the areas where you can add links. You can also use its Page Explorer feature, which lets you browse for citations of a certain word or phrase on your website.
Create blog content hubs
When there is no relevant hierarchy, your blog’s content may struggle. This occurs because blogs are typically updated in chronological order. With content hubs, you can separate the related blogs and make them more accessible to the users. Content hubs are typically linked to clusters of relevant details.
Here, a tomato can be used as an example. Tomato can be classified as both a fruit and a vegetable; hence content about tomatoes can be linked under both categories. The content hub allows you to collect and interlink relevant content and internally link between sites.
Don’t get too deep with the important content
Deep content is hard for the users to access but also forces Google to think that deep information is not useful or relevant. This has a direct impact on how visible your website is. It is, therefore, always recommended that you refrain from storing the information too deeply. To check the level of depth of your content, you can use the Ahrefs site audit.
Go to the Structure Explorer and move to the Depth option at the top. By clicking on each result you get, you can check the depth of that page and add relevant internal links to rank the content higher on the site’s lines of authority.
To sum it up
Local sites can still benefit greatly from authority SEO content since many local business sites are seriously lacking in the content department. Combining all of this with premium niche edits will leave your local competitors crying as you dominate the search results. You can create SEO silos for your local website and raise your position in local search results by taking the proper steps. Remember, it may take time to see results, but consistently applying these strategies will help you achieve long-term success.
FAQ
How is “silos” related to SEO?
Silos are a type of website structure used in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) that divides information into different categories or topics to help create a clear hierarchy of content on a website, which can enhance both user experience and search engine rankings.
How do you implement a silo structure?
Implementing a silo structure on a website involves organizing content into distinct categories or themes, each focusing on a specific keyword or set of related keywords. You must first choose a topic to arrange content in a hierarchical structure. Then, you must group existing content into relevant silos, optimize those silos with appropriate terms and phrases, and then link the silos in each category.
Is siloing a website compulsory for a website?
No, adding a silo structure is not required; however, doing so will increase your website’s rankings in the search results.
Last Updated on June 28, 2023 by Gaby
