how to structure silos in shopify

No matter where you are at on your,blogging or content creation journey, site structure or architecture is,something that you have to keep in mind at all times.,Why? Because firstly, a well structured site,helps search engines find your content much easier.,They follow links from pages that are,already indexed, so when they find a new page through those links,,they will index that page, even if that page is not a part of your XML sitemap.,Secondly, it allows search engines,to understand your content better through topical relevance.,For example, when you have a list of content about best,dog food and you list down a couple of dog food brands.,But there are other topics that people,searching for best dog food will be interested in, such as, "Best dog food,for skin allergies", "how to know if your dog is allergic,to their food", "common food to avoid should your dog have allergies", etc.,All these topics are relevant to helping,people find the best and most suitable dog food.,So if you're inter-link all these content as they are relevant to each other,,it is called "topical relevance" and they all answer to one search intent which is,to find the best and most suitable dog food.,So, with a clear understanding that this group of content answers to a specific,search intent, they will rank this group of content on not only one keyword,,but also multiple keywords that relate to the search intent.,Because you have helped search engines understand your content better,,they will rank your content higher on various keywords.,I hope this makes sense because this,is the key to a good site structure.,Thirdly, having a good site structure makes it easier for your site visitors,to navigate your site as they will visit more pages due to their topical relevance.,This can lead to increased engagement,and conversions which translate to higher rankings for your overall content.,One after another element works together,to make your site more authoritative without building backlinks.,And when you receive backlinks to a site with a good site structure,,it gets more benefits which we'll talk about at the end of this video.,A good site structure is done through something called a silo structure.,If you Google the term "what are silos in business?",You will get this featured snippet saying,"In business, organizational silos refers to business divisions that operate,independently and avoid sharing information.",And to simply explain this, a silo looks like this.,You have a targeted niche at the top and you have a couple of main categories,followed by a couple of subcategories under the main ones, and after that, you,have content within each of the subcategories and categories.,But you would not try to add internal links,between the content of different categories.,Don't worry about it,,we will explain more in detail.,While you try to avoid linking content,of one category to another, there will be times that linking with each,other will be beneficial to the entire site structure.,For example, if you have a category called,Eco-Friendly Home and Living Products and you wrote the content under,the category with the title "Best Energy Saving Air Fryers" and you have,another category called Energy Saving Tips, you wrote the content,under the category titled "How Energy Efficient Are Air fryers?",So although they are from different,categories, it makes sense to link them up because they are relevant to each other.,Obviously, with a site structure like this.,The goal is to build this website,into an authority site that targets many different main categories.,If the goal is to build a,niche site, the site structure would have been a lot different.,You could have a category called Best Air Fryers.,Both content I've mentioned will be parked under the same category.,You see, there is no hard and fast rule when it comes to building a site,structure, but it depends on the goal of your website.,Are you going to build an authority site,that ranks for highly competitive commercial keywords like eco-friendly home,and living products, energy saving tips, eco-friendly news, etc.,Or are you building a niche site that specifically talks about Air Fryers?,So the first thing you got to be clear,when drawing up your site structure or architecture is to know the,goal of your site and stick with it all the way.,Honestly, creating a site structure is not difficult and it's not complicated either.,So in this video, I'll be walking you through step by step,on how to create a silo structure for your website.,Let's go.,Hey, it's Jack from Rank Math, the WordPress SEO plugin that gives your,business the best chance of beating your competitors on search engines.,We put out a lot of videos and practical,SEO guides to make the complicated search engine world easy for you.,So if this is your first time watching,a video from our channel, consider subscribing.,But if you've been watching our videos but you haven't yet subscribed,Come on!,Anyway, every piece of content you add to your website should be thoughtfully,placed so that it benefits other pieces of content under the same category.,Let us go through a couple of real life,examples and I will walk you through the steps on building up a silo structure.,Look at dollarsprout.com,,this is one of the best examples.,If you go to their homepage, you will understand that this is,a personal finance website specialized in helping individuals make money.,These are the four main categories of the website.,If we click on "Side Hustles", you will see that there are four,subcategories and this is the pillar content for this category,,which means the most important piece of content in this category.,In this article, it will probably link,to hundreds of content all related to other subcategories because of its,topical relevance to the main category and if we click into one,of the subcategories, say "money making apps",,you will see that there are 17 best money making apps available for download.,It's the pillar content for this subcategory and within this subcategory,page it links to individual reviews on each of these money making apps.,So with just three to four clicks it brings us to a deep level of content,and it allows us to clearly understand the structure of the website.,You see, I can immediately spell out which contents belong to which category or,subcategories and they are all related to the main category which is Site Hustles.,You can't spell out the contents clearly,if a site does not have a good site structure.,Now let me share with you another great example from Saltwater Sportsman.,It is a fishing enthusiast site and right at the top are the latest articles and as,you scroll down we can see they have a category called "Fishing Boats",,"Game Fish", "How to", "Gear" and if we visit the "Fishing,Gear category", for example, these are the most important fishing gear,content followed by a subcategory called "Saltwater Fishing Tackle".,If we go into this subcategory, they have all the contents of the fishing,baits and lures that relates to the subcategory called Fishing Tackle,and then they have another subcategory called Marine Electronics.,We can see all the content related to it,and then the fishing apparels and accessories.,They have all the content related to it.,So these three subcategories here relate to the main category which is Fishing Gear.,With just a few clicks we can see almost,all the content of the website related to the main category.,Now if we go into the Fishing Boat Reviews category, I'm pretty sure these are,the recommended boats and following that we will see a whole list of fishing,boats where they put a link to the individual boat reviews.,Now do you know your category or,subcategory pages can rank for commercial keywords as well?,Just take the Fishing boat reviews category as an example.,Obviously this page is trying to rank for the keyword "Fishing boat reviews",and if we go to Google and we type in fishing boat reviews.,We will. See Saltwater Sportsman site ranking,for that keyword which leads us back to the same page.,So do not underestimate your category or,subcategory pages because it can rank for highly competitive keywords when done,well. I'm pretty sure you have questions on how,to create category pages like this.,I will share with you some ideas in a while so stay tuned.,So do you now see the pattern of a silo structure?,It starts with a pyramid structure at the top and later on it goes downwards.,Look familiar?,That's why it is called a silo structure.,So how can you build a silo structure for your website?,Honestly, it is very easy to plan out your site structure in the infancy stage.,We do not recommend that you restructure,your site architecture after it has been established.,Otherwise it might get messy and if not,careful you might end up losing rankings and traffic.,Now the first step to creating a silo,structure is to know the goal of your website.,As I've said earlier, are you going to build an authority site,or are you going to build a niche site because the site structure is going to be,different and honestly there is no hard and fast rule.,As long as your contents are well sorted,together and it's easy to browse and find your content, it is a good site structure.,Think of it as you're sorting out the files in your computer into folders.,The name of the folders are,the categories, the folders within the folder are,the subcategories and the files are the contents.,So let's say that I want to create a niche,site and the niche that I've selected is "Barbecue and Grill".,In this case I could have "Barbecue Guides",as one of the main categories "Barbecue Grills", "Barbecue Smokers",,"Barbecue Accessories", "Barbecue Recipes". In the "Barbecue Grill" category, you could have,subcategories such as "Grill Reviews" and "Grill Buyer Guides".,Similarly for "Barbecue Smokers", you could,have "Smoker Reviews" and "Smoker Buyer Guides".,In the "Barbecue accessories", you could have subcategories such as "Meat Grinder",,"Meat Slicer", "Gloves", "Temperature Controllers", "Grill covers", etc.,Then the "Barbecue recipes" you could have subcategories like "Beef", "Pork",,"Chicken and Turkey", "Seafood", "Lamb and Venison", etc.,Now what if you are building an authority site and instead of targeting just,the barbecue niche you are targeting one level up which is "Outdoor Cooking".,In such instances, the site structure might be different.,You will have categories like "Outdoor Cooking Methods", "Tips and Guides",,"Recipes", "Reviews" and in your "Outdoor Cooking Methods",,you could have subcategories like,"Campfire Cooking", "Backyard Cooking", "Fireplace Cooking", "BBQ", etc.,For "Recipes" you can either categorize them as different proteins or you can,categorize them based on the different cooking methods.,For reviews you will categorize them,into product categories like "Gas Stoves", "Barbecue Grills", "Outdoor Ovens", etc.,You get the idea but the key here is that you don't want to have too,many levels of subcategories.,You could say that the BBQ niche site can be transformed into an authority site,,but that would mean that there will be many layers of subcategories. So,,it is not advisable, but still doable. Nothing is impossible.,But the point here is that you want,to have a goal at a start so that you would stick,to it for the lifetime of your site.,Changing your site structure halfway could spell,disaster if not done properly.,So, the first step, decide on the goal of your website!,The second step is to discover topics,that are relevant to your chosen categories.,There are many ways to do topic research, but I will walk you through an example.,Let's take the Barbecue niche site as an example.,We will first use the good old Google to do our topic research.,When we think about barbecue grill review,,we will have queries like "what are the best BBQ grills?",And, in the People also Ask section we will,see queries like "what's the best BBQ grill brand?",,Which could be a topic in the category.,So you might want to put it in the list of your content ideas.,Let's expand the question and we will see more queries popping up.,"How do I choose a BBQ grill?",It makes sense to be part of the category.,"Is charcoal or propane better?","Is gas or charcoal grill better?","Napoleon Grills worth the money?",And from here I have another topic,idea, the "Different types of grills.",And as you can see, the more I expand, the more content ideas they provide.,If you don't see any more new,ideas, just pick one of the topics you,found, search for it and go through the same process over and over again.,This is a very effective way to discover new topics.,Don't worry about categorizing the topics.,First, find as many topics as possible and then you categorize them later.,You can use other topic research tools,,such as Ahrefs, Ubersuggest, or Answer the Public.,As you go through the research and you discover the contents, the next step,,is to categorize them.,Now,,after some research, I discovered that there are a lot of questions around the,maintenance of the grill.,"Can you Cook different meats on the same grill?","Should you clean your grill after every use?","What happens to the grill if it gets rained on?","Can you Cook chicken and beef on the same grill?",All these topics can be grouped together,in another subcategory called "Grill Knowledge" as it makes sense.,And also after some search, I've discovered that there aren't many,topics related to the subcategories in the "BBQ Accessories" category.,There could be around ten to 20 topics in the BBQ Accessories category.,So I think it makes sense to remove all,these subcategories and have those topics parked directly onto the main category.,You see, what is predetermined will not go as planned.,There are bound to be changes.,So does it look like a silo now?,And within the silo there are smaller silos.,Now, the pillar content is basically the most,important content in a particular category.,For example, in the "Grills reviews", we can,see that there are some individual product reviews and we have the listicle reviews,,such as the "Best Gas Charcoal Combo grills", "Best Kamado grills",,"Best Camping Grills", "Best Portable Pellet grills".,So to have a top level (pillar) article,,we could write an article targeting the keyword "Best barbecue grills of all time".,Within that article you include a long list of barbecue grills,,but you could group them into those listicle reviews I've mentioned.,This pillar content will have internal links to individual product reviews.,It will also link to the listicle reviews.,Similarly, the listicle reviews,and individual reviews will link to the pillar content.,Now, when you're publishing content, it is,easy for you to forget about internal linking.,So in Rank Math, we have this internal link suggestion feature that would suggest,to you which content your current article should link to.,This feature is activated by default,,but if you don't see it in your WordPress editor, under Rank Math,,go to "Titles and Meta", and under the "Post types" you will see the "Link Suggestions",feature, you want to toggle this on.,And then, you can select whether Rank Math,should search for internal links based on the titles of your articles, or,based on the focus keywords you have entered in Rank Math.,Personally, I like the Focus keywords,option because there are more variables, but it really depends on your preference.,You may want to test out the options over,time to decide which is the best option for you.,Once you determine which article is,the pillar content, on the post, and on Rank Math's tab,,you will see this option to select this post as the pillar content.,Make sure that you've selected the right category before you publish the content.,Now this is important.,If, for example, you're writing a piece,of content under the subcategory, you will select both the subcategory it,is related to, and the main category, and you want to select the primary category.,To me, the primary category is the,one that is most related to your,content, which in most instances, it is the subcategory.,The key to creating a silo structure is,only to select one main category, never select more than one main category,,and never select a subcategory in another category.,Once you've selected the category and you have saved as draft.,In this case, I've already published this,article, so if you're not ready to publish yet, just save as Draft and as soon as you,do that, you will see there are some link suggestions for you.,This is a feature that you have to pay,for in many popular WordPress SEO tools, but not on Rank Math.,This feature is in the free version of Rank Math.,Once you've selected the pillar content and,you've started to write a couple of articles,,it's time to redesign your category pages.,Now, if you're using WordPress as your content management system,,unfortunately, their category pages are not exactly,helpful in terms of showing the best contents on your site.,They are more like a blogroll.,So, to redesign your category pages, first,you will create an entirely new page.,Let's name this page as "Barbecue Grills".,Next, I'll add a heading and put it as,"featured", and I would add the pillar content here,to be featured at the top of the category page.,Next, I'll add another heading, "BBQ Grill,categories", and I'll align it center and,,I'll add a couple of feature boxes that will link to the subcategory pages.,You would design those subcategory pages,just like how you design this category page.,And then I will utilize the free,Post Filter feature from Post X to display all your contents in the category.,It is looking quite decent already.,Let's publish this.,You can obviously find some other plugins,to do the job for you such as Stackable or Kadence Blocks.,And here is your new Barbecue Grills category page.,So the next step is to do,a redirect from the default category page to the newly created category page.,You see, this is the link to the new category page and this is,the link to the default category page created by WordPress.,To do the redirections, I would use,Rank Math's redirection feature. On Rank Math's Dashboard,,make sure to select the "Advanced mode",,and you want to search for "Redirections" over here.,You want to toggle this on.,Once you have done that, you will see the redirections tab here.,Click on that and click on "Add New".,The source URL is the URL of the default,category page, so we will copy this and paste it here.,As for the destination URL, it will be the link to the new category page.,Let's paste this here.,Select the "301 redirect" to tell search,engines that your category page has been,permanently moved, and you want to add the redirection.,So on your default WordPress category page,,as you refresh it, it will be redirected to your new category page.,You want to do this for all the other category and subcategory pages.,You want to copy this new category page link.,And finally, on your home page, these are the main categories of your website.,We have edited the BBQ Grill category page.,Let's click on this box and paste the link to the new category page.,So ultimately, on your home page, you,select one of the categories, that's one click.,This is the Featured Pillar content,that links to all your other pages within the category.,And if you want to visit one,of the subcategories you will click on this, that's click number two.,Next, you will visit one of the,articles related to the subcategory, that's click number three.,The key here is to have as little clicks as possible that will lead,a site visitor to the lowest level of your content.,You've probably heard of something called link juice.,If an external site links to your website,it's called a backlink and they are sharing some link juice to you.,The more link juice that flows through your website it gives a positive signal,to search engines telling them that your content is good.,So let's test if our site will receive the most benefit when someone links to us.,The category page links to our pillar content.,The pillar content links to all other,pages in the category and all the other pages link back to the pillar content.,So if we have a backlink to one of our,articles in the category, the link juice will flow up to the pillar content and it,flows up to the category page as well as flows down to all the other pages as well.,So all the pages within the category will,kind of receive some benefits whenever we receive a backlink on any pages,in the category, the more link juice that flows through the category, the more,topical relevance it creates.,That's how you build a silo structure.,I hope you see how easy it,is to create a silo structure.,There is no hard and fast rule but the rule of thumb is, within,three to four clicks from your home,page, your visitors should be able to find the lowest level of your content.,I hope we have covered everything related to a silo structure.,If you find this video helpful can you do,us a favor and smash that thumbs up button?,The subscribe button is not very far,away so consider subscribing as well.,We have been actively publishing business and SEO guides and we believe it will,help you grow your business on search engines.,If you need help with anything related,to SEO or silo structure, feel free to leave a comment down below.,This is Jack from Rank Math,,I'll see you in the next video. 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