{"id":139600,"date":"2022-03-21T01:00:50","date_gmt":"2022-03-21T06:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/?p=139600"},"modified":"2023-02-22T09:44:54","modified_gmt":"2023-02-22T14:44:54","slug":"seo-silo-structure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-silo-structure\/","title":{"rendered":"SEO Silo Structure: Why It Makes No Sense (And What to Do Instead)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"intro-txt\">Everyone knows that structuring your website in a logical way is as important for users as it is for SEO, and \u201csiloing\u201d is one way many SEOs recommend doing&nbsp;this.<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>But I think that \u201csiloing\u201d is a terrible idea and <em>isn\u2019t<\/em>&nbsp;something you should do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this post, I\u2019ll explain why that is and what you should do instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But first, let\u2019s make sure we\u2019re on the same&nbsp;page\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"#what-is-silo-structure\">What is silo structure in&nbsp;SEO?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#why-is-siloing-popular\">Why is siloing so popular?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#silo-structure-problems\">What\u2019s the problem with silo structure?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#best-practices-for-site-structure\">Best practices for site structure<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"What is silo structure in SEO?\" data-section=\"what-is-silo-structure\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.p4wq4jbxrlqf\">What is silo structure in&nbsp;SEO?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Silo structure in SEO is a type of website architecture where you group, isolate, and interlink content about a specific topic. This creates clean, distinct sections of related content on your website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s roughly what SEO silos look like in practice:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default aligncenter\">\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/1-seo-silos.png\" alt=\"Flowchart of silo structure in SEO\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>You can see that each silo consists of a main silo page and related content, all of which are interlinked. However\u2014and this is a crucial point\u2014the&nbsp;<strong>content in one silo does not link to the content in another silo<\/strong>. That\u2019s why it\u2019s called silo structure, as the content is literally isolated in&nbsp;silos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"Why is siloing so popular?\" data-section=\"why-is-siloing-popular\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.ilg0fl8770v\">Why is siloing so popular?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>If we run a quick search in <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/content-explorer\">Content Explorer<\/a>, we see over 11K published pages containing the phrase \u201csilo structure\u201d and the word \u201cSEO.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default aligncenter\">\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/2-content-explorer-search.png\" alt=\"Content Explorer search of &quot;'silo structure' AND seo&quot;\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The reason for its popularity is the perceived benefits, which usually go something like&nbsp;this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.1tsy0zq2h4e6\">1. It helps Google to find your&nbsp;pages<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/internal-links-for-seo\/\">Internal links<\/a>&nbsp;are one of the ways Google finds new pages, so it\u2019s best practice to ensure that all of your pages are interlinked in some way or another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Siloing <em>can<\/em>&nbsp;help with this because it creates a logical hierarchical structure with consistent internal linking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.xl5mrixj7e1r\">2. It boosts rankings<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>There are two main reasons why siloing <em>may<\/em>&nbsp;help to boost rankings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.3zhc0jekm5b8\">Better flow of PageRank<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-pagerank\/\">PageRank (PR)<\/a>&nbsp;is Google\u2019s formula for scoring the value of a page based on the quantity and quality of pages linking to it. Backlinks are how PR flows into your site, and internal links are how PR flows around it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As all pages in a silo are interlinked, siloing helps PR flow between them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In effect, if one page in a silo attracts lots of high-quality PR-boosting backlinks, some of that PR is shared with other pages in the silo through internal links.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.5tec1wc5zgq\">More contextual internal links<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Silos are groups of related content. This means that the internal links between pages within them are usually contextually relevant. In other words, siloing creates internal links to and from pages about similar or related things\u2014and usually with relevant anchors, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both of these things help Google to understand the context of a page, as John Mueller explained in <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/rO6wTSL6joE?t=442\">this Webmaster Hangout<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><\/p><blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\">\n[Internal linking] also helps us to get a bit of context about that specific page. And we get some of that through the anchor text \u2026&nbsp; and some from understanding where these pages are linked within your&nbsp;site.\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><\/p><\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"John Mueller\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/john-mueller-google.png\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">John Mueller,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">Search Advocate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\" target=\"_blank\">Google<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, if you knew that a page had these internal anchors\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The company founded by Steve&nbsp;Jobs<\/li>\n<li>The iPhone manufacturer<\/li>\n<li>CEO, Tim&nbsp;Cook<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2026 you could probably figure out that it\u2019s about&nbsp;Apple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The same would be true if a page had internal links from pages about these things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>iPhone<\/li>\n<li>iPad<\/li>\n<li>Mac<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.u4530o19ffjj\">3. It creates a good user experience<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Internal links aren\u2019t just useful for SEO; they also help users to navigate your website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For that reason, siloing can improve user experience, as it effectively brings topically similar pages closer together. In other words, siloing places content about Steve Jobs, iPhone, and iPad fewer clicks away&nbsp;and helps you find relevant content more easily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"What's the problem with silo structure?\" data-section=\"silo-structure-problems\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.1ee43i33lrap\">What\u2019s the problem with silo structure?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Given the potential benefits of siloing, you may be wondering what the problem is and why it\u2019s not something I\u2019ll recommend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The answer: Forbidding internal links between silos is silly and doesn\u2019t help SEO or&nbsp;users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, let\u2019s say you had these three&nbsp;silos:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default aligncenter\">\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/3-gym-silos.png\" alt=\"Flowchart of three silos: gym studios, gym classes, gym instructors; notably, instructor &quot;Sarah&quot; is under the silo &quot;gym instructors&quot;\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Very neat. But what if Sarah teaches Pilates at the New York studio? Wouldn\u2019t it make sense to internally link Sarah\u2019s profile, the class she teaches, and the studio she works&nbsp;at?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course. But this would ruin your \u201csilos.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s worth pointing out at this stage that some SEOs disagree with the idea of restricting internal links to silos, including <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/gaelbreton\">Gael Breton<\/a>&nbsp;from Authority Hacker:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\">\n<p>Historically, when reading about SEO silos, you\u2019ve probably read about the idea of \u2018keeping link juice in the silo\u2019 and only internally linking to pages that are in the same site section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>We disagree with&nbsp;this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We believe that, in content, as long as it contextually makes sense to link to another page of your site, you should do&nbsp;it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Gael Breton\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/gael-breton-authority-hackers.png\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">Gael Breton,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">Co-Founder <a href=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Authority Hacker<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the reality is that <strong>once you do that, you\u2019re no longer siloing<\/strong>. You\u2019re effectively just using a traditional pyramid site architecture, which is recommended by pretty much everyone, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/youtu.be\/wsrL6l2Fxvo?t%3D3522&amp;sa=D&amp;source=docs&amp;ust=1644946028977116&amp;usg=AOvVaw14zbfEFf0C0OifLVqX6rDS\">including John<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\">\n\n\n\n<p>The top down approach or pyramid structure helps us a lot more to understand the context of individual pages within the&nbsp;site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"John Mueller\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/john-mueller-google.png\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">John Mueller,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">Search Advocate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\" target=\"_blank\">Google<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"Best practices for site structure\" data-section=\"best-practices-for-site-structure\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.sx3tpipbu1gs\">Best practices for site structure<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>With silo structure out of the window, let\u2019s look at a few simple best practices for planning and structuring a website with SEO in&nbsp;mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.36vz3wxhu882\">1. Use a pyramid structure<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Pyramid site structure puts your most important content at the top, followed by your second most important content, your third most important content, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is how most websites are structured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, here\u2019s what a website selling home furniture may look&nbsp;like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default aligncenter\">\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/4-home-furniture-website-structure.png\" alt=\"Flowchart of pyramid structure with &quot;home&quot; branching out to &quot;living room&quot; and &quot;dining room&quot;; each of them then branches out to related furniture categories \"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>You can see that the internal linking structure resembles a pyramid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are the benefits of pyramid site structure:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Easy to navigate <\/strong>\u2013&nbsp;Visitors start on the homepage, choose a category, then dig deeper.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Good PageRank flow <\/strong>\u2013&nbsp;Site homepages tend to get the most backlinks, so having important content close by makes&nbsp;sense.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Internal links are contextual <\/strong>\u2013 Categories link to their respective subcategories and vice&nbsp;versa.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>You\u2019ll notice that those three benefits pretty much align with the perceived benefits of silo structure. It just doesn\u2019t have the downside of prohibiting internal links between silos, which brings us neatly to\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.t5jq8o2pu758\">2. Internally link where relevant<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The main problem with SEO silo structure is that it prohibits linking relevant contextual opportunities outside of the silo. Using a pyramid structure with no such stipulations solves this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, let\u2019s say that you have some dining room chairs and a sofa in the same style. You can happily internally link between those pages despite them being in different areas of the&nbsp;site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default aligncenter\">\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/5-internal-linking.png\" alt=\"Flowchart of pyramid structure; notably, &quot;blue velvet sofa&quot; and &quot;blue velvet chairs&quot; can be interlinked even though they're located in different areas of the site\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>This is better for users and your bottom line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want to find relevant internal linking opportunities, there are a couple of ways you can do that using Ahrefs\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit\">Site Audit<\/a>&nbsp;(get access for free with <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/webmaster-tools\">Ahrefs Webmaster Tools<\/a>&nbsp;account).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first is using the <strong>Link Opportunities<\/strong>&nbsp;tool, which suggests where you should add internal links.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, here the report is suggesting we link from <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/glossary\" data-ahr=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-glossary\/\">our SEO glossary<\/a>&nbsp;to <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/meta-robots\/\">our meta robots guide<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default aligncenter\">\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/6-internal-link-opportunities.png\" alt=\"Internal link opportunities report results  \"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>This is because our meta robots guide ranks in the top 100 for \u201cmeta robots.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second is using the <strong>Page Explorer<\/strong>&nbsp;tool, which allows you to search for mentions of any word or phrase on your website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, if we search for mentions of \u201csearch quality rater guidelines\u201d on the Ahrefs blog, which is a keyword we\u2019re targeting in <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-quality-raters-guidelines\/\">our QRGs guide<\/a>, we see a mention in <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-ranking-factors\/\">our list of Google ranking factors<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default aligncenter\">\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/7-page-explorer.png\" alt=\"Page explorer report results \"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>It probably makes sense to internally link from here, as it may help boost our page in Google.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.iircd3pg4x6r\">3. Create content hubs for blog content<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Blog content typically suffers from a lack of contextual hierarchy because it\u2019s published chronologically. You can solve this by creating content hubs out of related posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Content hubs are similar to silos in that they are interlinked collections of related content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s what they typically look&nbsp;like:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-139597\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/8-content-hub.jpg\" alt=\"Flowchart of content hub: &quot;vegetable&quot; is in center and branches out to different vegetables like carrot, beetroot, etc \" width=\"453.6\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/8-content-hub.jpg 1134w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/8-content-hub-301x425.jpg 301w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/8-content-hub-768x1084.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/8-content-hub-1089x1536.jpg 1089w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1134px) 100vw, 1134px\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>The only true difference between hubs and silos is that you\u2019re free to link between content hubs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, let\u2019s say that we have two content hubs: one about fruits and the other about vegetables. Given it\u2019s a common misconception that tomatoes are vegetables, it may make perfect sense to internally link from the post about tomatoes to the vegetable hub&nbsp;page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default aligncenter\">\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/9-linking-tomatoes-to-veggie-hub.png\" alt=\"Flowchart showing 2 content hubs &quot;fruits&quot; and &quot;vegetables&quot;; &quot;tomatoes&quot; connected to &quot;fruit&quot; can be internally linked\/connected to &quot;vegetable&quot; hub\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>You\u2019re free to do that with content hubs because, unlike with siloing, there\u2019s no rule that you&nbsp;can\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In effect, content hubs give you the best of both worlds; related content is grouped and interlinked (as is the case with silos), but you\u2019re also able to internally link between pages where it makes&nbsp;sense.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Recommended reading:<\/strong>&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/content-hub\/\">Content Hubs for SEO: How to Get More Traffic and Links With Topic Clusters<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.cg5g7mlz9kix\">4. Make sure important content isn\u2019t too&nbsp;deep<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Deep content is harder for users to find, but it\u2019s a common misconception that this is also true for search engines. As long as your content is internally linked, Google will be able to find and index&nbsp;it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The problem is that Google may not prioritize the crawling or indexing of deep content because it assumes it holds little to no value for searchers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is why you need to ensure that important content is not buried deep in your&nbsp;site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can see how deep your content is at a glance using Ahrefs\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit\">Site Audit<\/a>. Just go to the <strong>Structure Explorer<\/strong>&nbsp;and toggle the \u201cDepth\u201d tab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default aligncenter\">\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/10-structure-explorer.png\" alt=\"&quot;Depth&quot; filter in Structure explorer\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>For example, you see above that most of the pages on the Ahrefs blog are between one and three clicks from the seed (in this case, the blog homepage). However, a few pages are 5+ clicks away, which probably isn\u2019t ideal for important content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can see the pages in each depth bucket by clicking on the corresponding part of the visual representation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For instance, if we click on the \u201c5\u201d bucket for the Ahrefs blog, we see only archive pages:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default aligncenter\">\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/11-pages-in-depth-bucket.png\" alt=\"List of URLs and corresponding data in the &quot;5&quot; bucket\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>As these pages aren\u2019t particularly important, the depth probably isn\u2019t an issue. However, if we saw important pages or posts here, we might consider adding relevant internal links to them from other content higher in our site\u2019s hierarchy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.uv9lndvrqpwz\">Final thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Organizing your content makes sense, but siloing your content doesn\u2019t. All this does is preclude you from internally linking to your content from relevant and contextual locations on your site, hindering SEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My advice is to organize your site roughly in a pyramid structure, group related blog or informational content into hubs, and then simply internally link to and from pages wherever it makes sense. This is not only best for SEO, but it also makes your site easier for visitors to navigate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Got questions? Disagree? Ping me <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/joshuachardwick?lang=en\">on Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>But I think that \u201csiloing\u201d is a terrible idea and isn\u2019t&nbsp;something you should do. In this post, I\u2019ll explain why that is and what you should do instead. But first, let\u2019s make sure we\u2019re on the same&nbsp;page\u2026 What is silo<span class=\"ellipsis\">\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\">Read more \u203a<\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":139782,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[335],"tags":[],"coauthors":[336],"class_list":["post-139600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-seo","odd"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>SEO Silo Structure: Why It Makes No Sense (And What to Do Instead)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Silo structure in SEO is a type of website architecture where you group, isolate, and interlink content about a topic\u2014and it&#039;s a bad idea.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-silo-structure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SEO Silo Structure: Why It Makes No Sense (And What to Do Instead)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Enough about silos.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-silo-structure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SEO Blog by Ahrefs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ahrefs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-21T06:00:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-22T14:44:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" 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