What is the correct structure? Structure - what can such a word mean? Basic meanings and concept of structure

27-07-2016, 16:46

We can say that the success of its promotion and its future fate in general depend on the correct structure of the site. Even if before creating your web resource you carefully thought through all the components, it would not be superfluous to once again pay attention to this issue and touch upon the topic of site structure and how to do it correctly.

Search engines quickly and easily recognize information in a clear structure. This applies to both the site itself and the texts posted on it. To promote a website, it is important that its structure is correct. This will ensure the success of its promotion.

Description of the site structure example: types and features

To make the right choice of website structure, you need to know the advantages and disadvantages of each type of structure. So, there are four main types of structure:

Linear site structure

The name of this resource structure speaks for itself: all information on the site is provided in a linear form. This is a kind of chain consisting of components connected to each other. There are no sections highlighted here, the user does not have the opportunity to move from one page to another as he pleases. He can only move along a specific route.

Therefore, the logical structure of the site, the presence of a title for each page and a link to the main page are of great importance. It is also advisable to indicate the number of pages in general and indicate the one on which the visitor is currently located.

The scope of application of sites with such page placement is very limited.

Business card website structure. Here is a striking example of the linear structure of the site. Also, a site with such a structure would be great for creating online books, and it is also very easy to implement.

  • A variation of the site structure discussed above is the linear resource structure with branches. It is like a road with many branches from it. The user moves from one page to another in a strictly defined order. However, if necessary, he can always move to another branch and return back without effort.
  • The main advantage of a linear structure with branches is that it is relatively easy for webmasters to create one based on a regular linear structure. As your site develops, the need for this often arises. The content is growing rapidly and the question of improving navigation arises. Therefore, such a process as drawing the structure of a site is important.
  • linear structure with alternative options– another subtype of the linear structure of the site. It differs from linear in that the user has more opportunities to search for information, or rather, is given a choice between two branches. For example, separation of corporate and private clients on the website.

Most often, this structure is used to register website visitors. In this case, all users start working with home page. But then a division occurs - individuals are offered one form to fill out information, and representatives of commercial structures fill out a completely different form.

Tree structure of the site

It is the most optimal structure that webmasters often use in their work.

The main advantage of this structure is its versatility. It is perfect for any type of resource: a home web page, a business card website, a corporate website, a catalog or portal, the structure of an online store website. Instant access to any section or page of the resource is also possible.

Lattice structure (coordinate systems)

This is a complex resource structure, where all components are located in separate branches, through which the user can easily navigate. This type of structure is most often used for links or article directories. At first glance, it may seem that the lattice structure is very convenient and acceptable for users, but still it is better not to use it for ordinary websites due to the fact that:

  • creating a lattice structure is very difficult, as you need to dig into the code or configure the CMS for it. However, using a CMS will help you with how to know the structure of the site;
  • the use of a lattice structure can easily confuse not only the user when he searches for information, but also the webmaster himself when posting content;
    - it is better not to use a lattice structure for large sites, since they contain a lot of hyperlinks.

It will be easier to perceive such a resource if you present an example of the site structure in the form of a diagram.

Mixed structure (web)

It consists of two or more components of the above structures in one, but it is rarely used due to the complexity of its implementation. This structure is already much more complex than all those discussed above. All pages in it are also located on various branches. The grid is used, as a rule, only in catalogs. At the same time, you can move between branches at a deep level using links to headings from other sections.

You can also develop the site structure yourself or use a program to create a site structure.

What is a landing page?

The structure of a selling website can be a landing page. This is very effective method advertising, promotion and even sales. Landing is a website that consists of only one page, or simply a page on a website created to sell a certain product or service.

What is the correct website structure?

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The semantic core plays an important role in organizing the structure of the site, so it is necessary to first conduct a thorough analysis of target queries on the specified topic. A uniform and logical distribution of queries is very important not only for search engines, but also for site users. After you have clustered how to build a site structure, feel free to proceed directly to the process of creating the resource itself.

The site should have headings and sub-headings, which will contain only articles that are relevant to the topic. It is important that they correspond to the semantic core, that is, it is necessary to break the list of keywords into clusters. Formation of information content taking into account SEO principles greatly simplifies the further promotion of the site and increases the level of ranking for search queries.

Today's article will be devoted to organizing the structure of the site.
I will tell you about the ideal correct structure of a web resource, about the real one, as on most Internet sites, I will try to figure out how to change an existing structure, and whether it needs to be changed at all, what to do to search system correctly understood the structure of the site.

It is worth mentioning right away that the structure of the site is divided into internal and external. They also separate the site structure and page structure. In an ideal site, everything should be interconnected and complement each other. In reality, not everything is so simple. Let's sort it out in order.

Types of site structure

To begin with, it’s worth defining the basic concepts of what is meant by the internal structure of the site.

In various articles by other authors, you can read that sites have different structures - linear, hierarchy, etc., this is both correct and not entirely true. In this case, we are talking about how the user sees it. How is the navigation chain organized on the site?

In fact, if we talk about the internal structure of the site, then each site is basically a folder, exactly the same as each of us has on our computer.

A folder is a container in which we can put anything and everything in any order we like. In it we can create other folders and organize documents into subfolders.

How to view the site structure

This is exactly how search engine indexing robots see our site. Yandex.Webmaster has a special section Site structure.

Correct site structure

When Internet sites were static, there were no problems understanding the internal structure of the sites. Because the external structure was a repetition of the internal one. For the end user this manifested itself in URLs.

www.mysite.ru/ index.html
www.mysite.ru/ o-kompanii.html
www.mysite.ru/ uslugi/
www.mysite.ru/ uslugi/prodaga.html
www.mysite.ru/ uslugi/dostavka.html
www.mysite.ru/ kontakty.html

It’s not difficult to guess that the container of our site contains

    Pages:
  1. Home (index.html)
  2. About company
  3. Contacts
    Folder:
  1. Services
    Inside the page folder
    1. Sale
    2. Delivery

But with the advent of content management systems, everything got mixed up in the Oblonsky household. There are no pages as such, they do not exist in physical form, they are created on the fly, virtually, because of this, on many sites it has become difficult to figure out where and what. And in pursuit of the 3rd click, developers do not think through the navigation, but immediately shove everything to the main page.

Structure of large sites - online store, catalog

Maybe it’s right to make it convenient for users. But in reality this creates a pile of links.

But it would be more logical to make information about the company and customers a section. Yes, the level of nesting on the final page will increase by one click, but this structure is more logical and understandable to both the search robot and the user.

Here's how another large company dealt with it.

Having left only one link to the section in the footer of the site, an additional navigation chain was created in the section itself.

I'm not saying that the second option is the only correct one, no. I believe that everything is individual. If the site has more than 3 pages that can be united by one topic, then it is better to create a section that will unite these pages.

Unfortunately, by their very nature, CMSs cannot create content nesting.
For example, if you look at online stores, then everywhere the product categories are located in one directory of the site, as a rule, this is a folder with the name of the product group, for example /computer, and the products are in another, for example, the /products or /goods folder.
Why is that?

The thing is that the CMS works with a database, which is a set of tables. There is a table of categories, which contains information about the categories - computer, hardware, etc., and information about the product is contained in another table - goods. Due to the fact that to create a category page, data is taken from one table, and to create a product page from another table, from a technical point of view it is very difficult to assign the same URL path to different tables.

In an ideal website, from an architectural point of view, each end product page should have the following structure

www.mysite.ru/catalog/computers/notebooks/brand/art-123.html

But from a usability point of view, this is evil, because... the final page has a 6th level of nesting, and the user should not be forced to click so much with the mouse, he may get tired and go to another site, where everything is located on the main site at once. It's funny, but that's the reality. How to be?

Website structure design

Again, if we talk about an ideal site, then the structure should be like this, but for developers the work will increase, they will have to strain their brains. The programmer needs to make connections between different tables, the designer needs to think through such navigation so that the user can get to the final page in 2-3 clicks, even if it is more nested.

But who wants to do extra work? That is how we live. We find the optimal solution at the minimum cost.

It’s convenient for the user and the search robot will somehow figure it out, despite the fact that Google and Yandex directly say that navigation should be transparent, logical and understandable.

As much as we would like, only a competent programmer can organize the correct URL structure, who still needs to prove that this is important from an SEO point of view. Unfortunately, those programmers I have met never think about how it should be, not only from the point of view of the logic of the program code, but also from the point of view of the scanning robot. That is why with the advent of CMS it has become so difficult to understand the structure of the site.

The lack of properly formed URLs creates a violation of the internal structure of the site and introduces confusion in the understanding of the external structure, both by a professional and by a user.

What to do?

Option one. If the resource is old, is well indexed, and the pages have PR that you are afraid to lose, then it is better to do nothing and leave everything as it is.

How to change the site structure

Option two. If you are a perfectionist and your hands are itching to do it right, or you think that this is the main reason why your site is not correctly indexed by the search robot, then a solution can always be found.

I warn you, I am not a programmer. My knowledge is limited only as much as I share information. If you need to set up another CMS, look for answers in the search. I am providing general information to understand the problem.

Let's take a look at WordPress as an example to see how you can properly organize your URL.

The solution has been tested on WordPress 4.4.2.

In the WordPress admin panel, in the permalink settings, select the Custom item and paste into the field:

/%category%/%postname%.html

Thus, we indicated that the page with the post should look like

www.mysite.ru/webmaster/struktura-site.html

But WordPress is designed in such a way that the page with the category itself opens at

What they tried to get rid of again interferes with the correct organization of the site structure.
But it's not scary. Open the .htaccess file and add the following code to it:


RedirectMatch 301 /category/(.*) http://mysite.ru/$1

Don't forget to change mysite to your blog address.
This is how it turned out for me.


But there are several BUTs!

www.mysite.ru/category/webmaster/

We haven’t changed anything fundamentally, but for users a more attractive URL is formed in the address bar, and for search robots we informed that the permanent page address without the /category/ folder.

Second. One article cannot be classified under different headings. Each article in the URL will be assigned one category, the one that comes first in alphabetical order.

So, now we understand what the site structure is, what it should be, and we even already know how to organize it all on a dynamic site using WordPress as an example.
In the next article I will continue the topic of the internal and external structure of the site, but the conversation will not be about the technical side of the issue, but about proper navigation on the site, about the tools with which we can organize navigation for users without harming search robots.

The article was not born by chance, because most users are interested in the question: what is the structure of a website in the form of a diagram and how to make it yourself without skills? It’s quite difficult for a novice master to create, so let’s look at the question in detail.

Having a completely completed website, you need to customize its design; it is much more difficult to develop a scheme for its promotion in the future. If your site is presented in the index, but the diagram is not very good or is missing, then it’s worth quickly presenting it in the form of a diagram.

The concept of site structure

The concept of resource structure is a system for arranging addresses according to an accurate and correctly formed diagram. Essentially it's similar to file system computer, where each folder is packaged separately.

For better understanding, they are divided into the following parts:

  • Where am I or the entrance.
  • Where can I go next?
  • Related categories.

Thus, the better the foundation is formed, the better and more comfortable your visitors will be. I will give an example of the simplest online store scheme.
Here you can immediately see that everything is in its place and easy navigation for visitors.

Site structure in the form of a diagram: requirements

The structure of the site in the form of a diagram and the requirements are presented to a properly developed project. They are mainly formed by search engines, so webmasters usually adapt to them. However, do not forget that the first thing you need to do is take care of the visitors, and only then the robots.

Search engines analyze the site in their own way, taking into account the URL. It must be said that site structure and URL are the same concepts. Each search engine has its own requirements, I’ll tell you about them briefly.

Requirements from Yandex:

  • Try to maintain a clear layout of links. All documents must relate to a specific section. In addition, each page must have at least one link; many resources from educational institutions are not taken into account.
  • Don't forget about the project map, it can speed up indexing.
  • One address should be accessible only through one link.

Requirements from Google:

  • The structure should be kept simple.
  • URLs are understandable for ordinary users.
  • Use words, not identifiers.
  • You should not make very long and complex addresses.

Correct foundation and examples in diagrams

To be honest, after wandering around the Internet, I read a lot of unnecessary information, since not all webmasters are able to clearly define the concept of structure and made examples. Some came up with a bunch of different schemes and names, as well as descriptions taken from unknown sources.

I will try to tell you everything in detail. Let's go in order. The site design is divided into the following types:

There are essentially no more options. Of course, you have probably come across such concepts as linear, mixed, lattice, etc., but these are just inventions and additions.

The structure is divided into these types:

  • Correct or ideal. That is, logically created, understandable to visitors and robots.
  • Not correct. There is no logic and no clear layout.

Examples of site design schemes

Initially, I would like to give an example of the simplest design of a one-page website.


As you can see, it is more suitable for small projects where the theme of each page is very similar to the previous one. If, in addition to the main one, you want to add many more additional ones, then you need structure, breaking into paragraphs and groups. Only in this case everything will be done correctly and will have a positive impact on promotion.

Next...tree-like is the most common. It is used on most large websites, online stores and portals. Here is her appearance:

Internal and external structures

What I described above refers to the internal structure. It is necessary to carefully consider what the site will be like in the future. Promotion and indexing depend on this parameter.

The external base is quite extensive. This includes usability, colorful design, ease of navigation and other aspects. However, there is one rule that cannot be violated under any circumstances. All users are accustomed to seeing the standard arrangement of blocks on the site. For example:


Basic elements on the resource are located according to the following principle:

  1. Cap, head and header are the names of the top where the logo, menu and additional elements are located.
  2. Sidebar or side menu. You can do it, or you can not. These blocks carry additional information and their task is to hold visitors as long as possible.
  3. Main block. In this case, the content should be easy to read and visible to visitors on the first page.
  4. The project's footer contains information about contacts and useful links.

Project Design Change Points

We've covered the basic concept, now let's move on to the most interesting. Where to start changing a resource? Let's look at it in detail.

  1. We clearly think through and rewrite on a separate sheet what the project will look like in the form of a diagram. Here you should specify the page addresses in advance for convenience (especially for an online store).
  2. We use additional categories with keywords.
  3. We distribute them into categories, pack them into separate sheets or files.
  4. We come up with keys for creating content.
  5. We write a URL for each page.
  6. We are preparing texts for additional addresses.
  7. We add categories and content to them.
  8. Changing the link structure.
  9. We redirect old link addresses to new ones.
  10. We change internal links and relink.

At first glance it may seem that everything is very complicated. But if you look at it, the work takes a maximum of a week with an average amount of content.

Online program for creating internal structure

The mindmeister program is the best choice, I recommend it. The main task is to make smart maps in the form of a diagram. Registration takes two minutes. After registration, you are given an initial package of three free cards. To start making, click my maps and select a template.

Create a sitemap in the form of a block diagram and save. I won’t disassemble the intuitive interface.

Conclusion

From all of the above, I can draw the only conclusion: the structure of the site plays a fundamental role in promotion. If you are sure that it is bad, then be sure to gather your strength and change it. As a result, you will get tremendous changes.

You can independently study the design of your project or use useful services and programs. However, I personally recommend treating them with caution, since they all work in a less directional way. One of them is the online service byinsecure.com.

I hope it is now clear what a website structure in the form of a diagram is and how it can be compiled. Apply the acquired knowledge in practice. Good luck!

The structure of the site is the basis, the foundation of any Internet resource, be it an online store or an information site.

Thanks to a high-quality, well-designed structure, search engines quickly crawl the site and do not waste the robot’s resources in vain (crawl budget). This leads to quick indexing of the site by search engines. On a well-designed website, new documents can be indexed almost a day after they are posted on the Internet resource.

An important factor is also the ease of navigation on the site for the user, which has a positive effect on behavioral factors and, as a result, on visibility, positions and traffic.

At the same time, changing the structure of a site after the launch of a project is not always easy and, if done incorrectly, usually entails a decrease in positions and, as a result, a decrease in traffic until search engines adapt to the new structure.

It turns out that the structure of the site is, on the one hand, a very important ranking factor, improving the characteristics of the entire site at once, and on the other hand, it cannot be easily rebuilt if mistakes were made during the launch of the project and the structure was designed incorrectly.

That is why careful preparation, analysis and planning are critical steps when working on the structure of any site, be it a small service site or a huge classified site (example: Avito).

The time spent on analyzing and designing the site structure pays off in 100% of cases. Failure to do the preparatory work leads to serious problems that arise during the stage of active promotion and growth. In some cases, the cost of redesigning the structure may be equivalent to the cost of the site itself, made from scratch.

What is the site structure?

The site structure is a logical scheme for constructing site pages with distribution into folders and categories. If you look from the user's point of view, the site structure is navigation, the path through a particular site.

Photo 1: An example of a culinary site that grouped types of dishes into categories, making something like a cookbook.

If you look at it from the other side, it is a set of URLs structured according to a logical scheme. The semantic core is the informational foundation of the site, the structure is more technical. In any case, these concepts are related, since sometimes it is enough to separate the user's intentions and we will get a sketch of the structure.

Drawing an analogy, you can compare the structure of a website with a grocery store: in the bread department - bread products, in the dairy department - dairy products, and so on. Without such a division, customers would spend a lot of time looking for this or that product and would go to the nearest store, where all the products are stored by category. It’s the same with a website: if users don’t clearly understand what and where it is, they will simply feel uncomfortable and go to a neighboring site with a logical structure.

Principles of building a website structure

The main component of any website is a document - this is a website page, a unique address on the Internet. Documents can be simple information pages, product cards or, for example, product listings in an online store.

Any website is a tree-like structure, where the “trunk” can be thought of as the main page, and sections and articles are branches and leaves. How broad the structure will be depends on the format and type of site, but even a site consisting of one page is already the basis or “trunk” of a tree structure, from which various directions can be developed. The tree structure is the basis for any other types of structure in which the type of document connection changes - be it a linear relationship, where each document is connected to the next one and to the main one, or a broader connection, where each document is connected to each other and to the main one.

The principle of building connections between documents depends on the type of site we need.

In general, we can distinguish the following types of sites that have differences in structure:

    Business card website

    Commercial site

    Online store

    Information site

Each type involves its own type of structure, which we will try to understand.

Business card website

Although this type of site is slowly fading away and one-page landing pages are becoming increasingly popular, a business card site with a structure has its place. Example:


Photo 2: An example of the structure of a simple business card website for a small company.

This option provides the user with all the necessary information and is easy to navigate.

The principle of its construction is a small number of levels of nesting of the structure, which makes navigation as simple as possible for the user. Here we use a linear type of connection between the elements of the tree structure - documents, where we can go from the main page to a specific document, but the documents are not interconnected.

Commercial site

In this case, we need to disclose to the user information about what we do, how we do it and any features of our business. A short example of a website for apartment renovation:


Photo 3: An example of the structure of a more complex commercial site, where each page of the site reveals information about a particular line of business or service.

This time the number of connections has a more ramified version and from the “Services” section we can go to the “Apartment renovation” section, and from there we get to the “Major repair” document.

Online store

Online stores are usually the most complex and multi-level sites with a large number of pages. Due to the abundance of goods (in most cases), the structure of an online store is a very important element. A special feature is that the number of pages created is reduced by introducing filters.

Filters are usually placed on elements that do not significantly affect the product, but are of great need for the user. For example - a filter on the size of clothes / shoes, or their color. At the same time, genuine leather and artificial leather can be placed on different pages. Thanks to filters, we get the opportunity to have a more flexible site without overloading the structure. A brief diagram of an online store might look like this:


Photo 4: An example of the structure of a basic online store with a product catalog, cards and filters (tags).

When designing the structure of an online store, the logical connection between the sections, headings and articles in them is most clearly visible. The structure grows and connections may appear between adjacent sections, for example, the relationship of documents in the “Laptops and Computers” section, where links appear from the keyboard section to the computer mouse section to facilitate user navigation and predict his desires.

Information sites

The structures of information sites are not as branched as the structures of online stores and include sections dedicated to one or another area. A section differs from an online store page in that it is often a listing of all documents on the topic of the section without further structuring into narrower areas. Another distinctive feature is that connections are built not only from section to section, but also to each article, which makes it possible to build a general linking within the entire section.

Information sites can be divided into two types, on which their structure will depend:

    Sites with a narrow topic, niche sites (for example, a site dedicated to the treatment of varicose veins or acne).

    Portal sites dedicated to some broad issue (motherhood, fashion, hairstyles, pets).

Niche sites

An example of an information site with a narrow fitness theme:


Photo 5: Simplified structure of an information site about exercise and a healthy lifestyle.

In this case, we have a tree structure in which each article is associated with a section. That is, we can link the “Outdoor Exercises” section with each internal article, while the section itself can only play a collecting role, a kind of shell - a container for documents, for combining articles of the same direction.

Portals

A portal option is the same information site, but with much broader areas, and it can be a “bundle” of narrow information areas within the framework of one topic. An example of a popular information portal would be the women's magazine woman.ru.

If we were making a portal about fitness, the “Sports” section could be one of the sections with its own sections and articles:


Photo 6: The multi-level structure of the section is due to the large number of headings that are planned to be developed.

Portals often include very extensive, massive sections and have a branched structure with cross-links across semantic components.

Requirements for the site structure

The structure is also necessary for the site to be indexed by search engines. The more correctly and logically it is designed, the easier it is for a search engine to index pages and provide them to the user. Search engines have a number of their own requirements for a successful structure.

Yandex PS structure requirements

The Yandex search engine has detailed instructions on working with site structure - link. Without going into details, in general the following key recommendations can be identified:

    Each document must belong to its own section.

    The more nested a page is, the longer Yandex will index it.. That is, if the page structure looks like this: eda.ru/salaty/olivie, then it will be indexed faster than eda.ru/bluyda/prazdniki/novyj_god/olivie.

    Use a sitemap.

    Limit indexing of proprietary information. For example, you shouldn’t index “site search results.” For search engines, they will not play a role in the speed of indexing or ranking, but they will slow down the overall speed of site scanning and waste the budget for crawling the site by a robot. Such functionality should be primarily for users, rather than for robots.

    Each page must have a unique URL. In this case, everything is simple - if we have it right, then there should be no duplicates by name.

    It is desirable that the URL format gives an idea of ​​what is on the page it leads to. That is, CNC is well perceived not only by users, but also by search engines.

    Make links to other sections of the site text. In text links, you can add keys from the semantic core to show all the versatility of the topic, if this could not be done on the page. It also helps the PS understand what the page is about.

    Check the correctness of symlinks..

Google PS structure requirements

Google also has its own requirements for the correct site structure.

    The structure of the site should be extremely simple, logical and understandable for humans.

    Use CNC. Google also relies on CNC to determine the relevance of a page.

    Don't use complex URLs.

There is also information on the structure and more in the optimization guide from Google itself - link.

How to correctly create a website structure in the form of a diagram

So, the rules have been studied, recommendations have been received. It is necessary to start creating the structure itself. The algorithm by which we will build the framework of our website is based on the use of best practices. This will allow you to spend less effort and at the same time be based on the working result.

Competitor analysis

In order to create the correct website structure, you don’t have to sit down and come up with it from scratch. There is a great chance of missing something, especially if you have not encountered such a practice before. It will be much easier to take a ready-made structure and adapt it to your project. How to do it? Now we'll tell you.

So we have a theme. Let's say this is an online store of consumer electronics. The structures of online stores are usually the most detailed and extensive. In order not to think through each section, we will do it simpler -. Rest assured that our competitors have long since done all the work for us. To eliminate the mistakes of the same competitors, we will analyze several.

An algorithm for studying competitors using the example of an online consumer electronics store.

Search for competitors in catalogs

The first thing you need to do is create a list of competitors for analysis. In our example, we need to find consumer electronics stores. Ratings and services where you can get a list of competitors:

Checking the request in serpstat.


Photo 11: We are looking for top competitors by keyword in the topic.

We get “Competitors in search results”:


Photo 12: Serpstat shows a list of the most visible sites in search results for a query.

We write out the resulting list in our table.


Photo 13: Create a new column and enter data into it.
Photo 14: Repeat the operation in the Semrush service.

Don't forget to change the region to RU. We get a list of competitors by Google.


Photo 15: List of competitors from Semrash.

In Semrash it is possible to export the resulting TOP 100 if you have purchased a subscription ($99), otherwise we transfer the necessary data manually.


Photo 16: Export is only available with an active subscription.

We also add it to our Excel table.


Photo 17: Creating a separate column for competitors obtained from Semrush.

We perform the same operation on Arsenkin’s website.

Cleaning and merging

After all the manipulations, we need to combine all these lists into one and clear it of duplicates. The output should be something similar.

Photo 18: Final list after cleaning for duplicates.

It is necessary to clear the final list from sites such as yandex.ru, avito and other large aggregators that are not our direct competitors.

At the second stage, we need to find out the structure of sites from the prepared list. The number of sites to study depends on our desire to create the most detailed structure and on the topic in which we are creating the project.

Let's look at the example of the M-Video store. To download the site structure we have 2 options:

    Visual acquaintance with the structure and its reproduction in an excel table.

    Uploading URLs using services.

Manual unloading of competitor structures

The first method is that we need to look at the site pages and transfer them to our document. For example, how it looks in the M-Video online store:

Photo 19: Sub-pages of the “Computers and Monitors” section on the M-Video website.

This is how we transfer to our worksheet (quick example).


Photo 20: We create a tree structure in an excel table in the image and likeness of what we see on the site.

Thus, we need to unload the structure of each selected site.

Automated unloading using services

The second way is to use the already mentioned services. In order to get the structure from Serpstat, enter the site address into the original line.

Photo 21: Analyzing the site using Serpstat.

Click search and then in the “SEO analysis” section we find “Site pages”:

Photo 22: Our task is to find the “Site Pages” tool.

As a result, we get the following result:


Photo 23: Serpstat shows us all the documents of the selected site.

The disadvantage of this method is that in free mode only 10 pages will be available to us, while visually we can copy the entire structure.

This operation will need to be carried out for each site from the list and enter the data into the table.

Merging structures

The third stage is the reunification of all structures into one. This is necessary in order to obtain the most complete structure with . Using this approach, we will close the gaps of some sites with the developments of others and ultimately get the widest option.

To merge, you need to take as a basis the site with the best and most complete structure. We will add structures of other sites to it. For example, mvideo turned out to be the most successful option and we will supplement it.


Photo 24: We take the structure of the M-Video website as a basis.

How does filling happen? It's simple - we look at similar sections of other online stores and transfer their content here. For convenience, each section can be divided into columns. There are 2 options: add only unique sections that are not in the main structure, or add everything and then remove duplicates. The second option is suitable for volumetric structures.

Let's say that the Eldorado store offers more brands of monitors than M-video. In this case, we simply supplement the monitors section with the necessary brands:

Photo 25: We supplement the section with missing stamps, cleaning the duplicates later.

In principle, the final version that we get will maximally reflect the experience of competitors and will allow us to see the broadest structure of an online store for household appliances. If we talk about information sites, the principle is absolutely the same, except that the structure will not be so branched in most cases.

Cleaning and removing ineffective partitions

The structure will be wide, but we are interested in its maximum efficiency and we do not need “dead” pages. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the result obtained for demand and cut off unpopular or unnecessary sections. To do this, let's proceed to stage 4 and go to the Kay Collector program.

To assess the demand for a particular section, we will use Key Collector. First, we need to prepare the so-called parsing matrix. To do this, let's move on to our table. Using monitors as an example, it will look like this:

Photo 26: Copy monitor brands into a separate tab.

To create a parsing matrix, you need to add the word “monitor” for each brand, for subsequent addition to Key Collector.

Photo 27: Complementing the matrix.

We copy the result and send it to Key Collector for parsing. You can read about how to configure Key Collector for effective parsing in.

To collect data, we only need the left column of Wordstat. Based on the data obtained during parsing, we can evaluate the feasibility of adding a particular section. Let’s say that if the base frequency of VIEWSONIC monitors is less than 20 per month (the exact frequency may not be considered initially, the base one will be enough), then there is not much point in adding such a section, except perhaps to present the entire line of products.

Thus, we weed out sections that are unnecessary to us and leave only those that are in demand. After parsing, we make changes to our table based on current data.

In general, if we have correctly and beautifully designed an Excel table, we will already have an idea of ​​what our site will look like and what structure it will have. However, a visual diagram of the site structure always looks more clear.

Programs for building a website structure

To build website structures as a whole, any program that can work with diagrams is suitable. Creating a diagram allows you to visually assess the complexity of the structure and cover all its directions at a glance.

The complexity of the structure is determined by two parameters: the level of nesting and balance. The nesting level is the number of transitions that need to be made from the main page to the furthest document in the structure. It is not recommended that this value be greater than 3. We determine balance by eye, assessing the number of documents within sections and headings. There should not be strong distortions when there are 100 documents in one section and 25 in another.

The most convenient software for creating website structures:

    X-Mind - free program, created for building mind maps, structures and diagrams of various processes. Quite easy to use, has wide functionality and is supported on all operating systems. I can confidently recommend it to friends and acquaintances.

    Draw.io is a free online service for creating structures and diagrams. Requires Google mail. The arsenal of tools larger than that of X-mind includes a number of technical and engineering templates (not interesting for our purposes). Another advantage is the ability to upload results to Google Drive and other services, just like uploading to a PC.

    Microsoft Visio is software from a popular company that is very flexible in settings and capabilities. Suitable for creating structures of any complexity and orientation, it has an online interface. Purchased as part of the Microsoft Office suite.

Such software is quite convenient not only for building website structures, but also for other similar purposes, and it wouldn’t hurt anyone to have it in their arsenal.

Site structure diagram in X-Mind

We will look at building a structure in X-Mind program. To clearly see all our sections, headings and categories, we transfer data from an excel table to an x-mind map. To add a subsection, you can use the Tab button; you can move sections with the mouse.

A short example of one of the sections will end up looking like this:


Photo 28: The structure of our online store in the form of a mind map in the X-Mind program.

This option is the most convenient to use and will help you navigate when adding product cards, headings and sections to the site.

conclusions

The structure of the site is no less important for the foundation of the project than the semantic core. The correct structure is one of the criteria for the success of a website.

The algorithm presented in the article is very effective and has been used more than once in practice when creating new projects.

Basic moments:

    We definitely analyze our competitors from the TOP. This is free experience from the mistakes of others. Thanks to modern services or competent manual development, you can create an excellent structure for a future project.

    We check the relevance of sections through Key Collector. Sections without demand can be useful, but from a commercial point of view they will not bring tangible benefits (relevant only for e-commerce sites; for information projects, sections and headings are usually formed according to a logical principle).

    We use CNC. This helps both search engine robots and users.

    We focus on the user. If we asked a friend to visit our site, instructed him to find some section or page and he did it without difficulty, then the structure is at least understandable to the user. For the purity of the experiment, you can interview several people.

Using the experience of competitors, user focus and search engine rules, we will create an excellent and correct site structure.

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