What Is Website Structure?

Date First Published: 26th February 2024

Topic: Web Design & Development

Subtopic: Web Development

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty: Medium

Difficulty Level: 5/10

CONTENTS

Elements Of Website Structure
Importance Of Website Structure

Learn about what website structure is in this article.

Website structure, also known as website architecture, refers to how the pages of a website are organised and connected to each other. It affects how both users and search engine crawlers interact with a website. The structure is reflected through internal links, categories, and navigation menus.

Elements Of Website Structure

Key elements of website structure include:

Navigation menus - The most important element of website structure. Navigation menus allow users to quickly move from one page to another. By organising pages together into a clickable list, web navigation greatly improves the usability of a website and user experience.
URL structure - URLs should be kept short, simple and user-friendly.
Categories - These are used to organise related pages. They are especially important for blogs so that users can find pages related to what they are currently reading.
Internal links - These are hyperlinks from one page to another within the same website. Internal links help users navigate through a website quickly without having to manually type the URL, establish an information hierarchy for the page, and help web crawlers find, crawl, and index the pages on a website.
Breadcrumbs - A user interface element displayed outside the navigation bar that allows users to trace the directory path of the current page they are visiting.
Sitemaps - A sitemap is an illustration, drawing, or HTML file that presents a hierarchical view of the pages of a website used to help visitors find what they are looking for. A sitemap is less relevant to a smaller website, but it is still an important part of a website's structure.

Importance Of Website Structure

Website structure is important for the following reasons:

It makes navigation easier, which optimises websites for user experience. It doesn't matter if the content is high-quality. If users can't find it, it will encourage them to go to a competitor's website.
It helps search engine crawlers effectively crawl a website. Search engine crawlers rely on internal links to find pages on websites and a good structure will help search engine crawlers find all the pages.
It optimises websites for conversions. By making it easier to find products, it will increase the chances of conversions.
Easier management of content - As websites grow with more blog posts or product pages, organisation will become more important to prevent it from becoming cluttered. A good website structure will make it easier to keep track of all the pages of a website. This will help website owners to find duplicate content more easily, identify important pages that are missing, and find the pages they are looking for.