What I Do When Building a Web Site Using a Silo Structure For Long Term Rankings
- Thread starter BassTrackerBoats
- Start date
IamBlackhatter
Elite Member
- Feb 26, 2011
- 2,538
- 1,477
Hope the one which you are using in your small sites experiment,have to run so got the pdf version of this post;will read it on the go than watching some videos and wasting time 
This guide came at a perfect time for me. I'm in the organizational/planning phase of my first authority site and it's being setup as a silo. I have all of my keywords and I'm grouping them together to figure out which silo I want to place them into. If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to ask about your navigational links.
1. Looking at your picture, it seems that when a user clicks on your category page, they will only see links to the main page and to related pages under the category page (such as that categories posts, power page, etc). Is that correct? I currently have it setup where visiting a category page still has links showing for other categories, but non-related category links would disappear if they drill down into category content pages. It seems like I may have that setup wrong.
2. When somebody goes one level down, into the posts or the power page, etc. Do you link back to your homepage anywhere?
3. Where do you link to your privacy policy and contact page? I'm considering putting them into a static footer page. I've heard links in the footer carry less weight so it shouldn't hurt the silo much. Do you recommend the footer, or would you link to them only from the home page?
4. This is slightly unrelated, but do you target more than one keyword in a post/page? If you do, then how do you choose which keyword goes into the title of the page? Also, do you try to keep the keyword density approximately the same for each keyword? I'm currently grouping keywords and some are very related and I feel like they'd be great on the same page, but I want to make sure they are SEO'd properly. I thought I would stick the most difficult to rank KW in the title, and other keywords would be placed into H2 tags or something which would help break up the article anyway. But I'm too new at this, so I'd like some expert advice!
Sorry for so many questions, I know you're busy. I always try to do my own research but people have varied opinions in SEO and I'm interested in knowing what your thoughts are. I absolutely appreciate any questions that you may choose to answer.
1. Looking at your picture, it seems that when a user clicks on your category page, they will only see links to the main page and to related pages under the category page (such as that categories posts, power page, etc). Is that correct? I currently have it setup where visiting a category page still has links showing for other categories, but non-related category links would disappear if they drill down into category content pages. It seems like I may have that setup wrong.
2. When somebody goes one level down, into the posts or the power page, etc. Do you link back to your homepage anywhere?
3. Where do you link to your privacy policy and contact page? I'm considering putting them into a static footer page. I've heard links in the footer carry less weight so it shouldn't hurt the silo much. Do you recommend the footer, or would you link to them only from the home page?
4. This is slightly unrelated, but do you target more than one keyword in a post/page? If you do, then how do you choose which keyword goes into the title of the page? Also, do you try to keep the keyword density approximately the same for each keyword? I'm currently grouping keywords and some are very related and I feel like they'd be great on the same page, but I want to make sure they are SEO'd properly. I thought I would stick the most difficult to rank KW in the title, and other keywords would be placed into H2 tags or something which would help break up the article anyway. But I'm too new at this, so I'd like some expert advice!
Sorry for so many questions, I know you're busy. I always try to do my own research but people have varied opinions in SEO and I'm interested in knowing what your thoughts are. I absolutely appreciate any questions that you may choose to answer.
T2tkid
Elite Member
- Oct 13, 2010
- 5,019
- 2,479
I started a new blog in a difficult niche, and i use pages as my parent category, how do you use sub-pages? I use normal category as sub-pages.
Very similar stuff I do, but instead of using categories, I use pages and sub-pages as they are cooler than posts.
Posts link to author, pages don't
Also, I prefer my own version of silo, but the default one everywhere-taught silo might get the job done as well
zoewarrior
Regular Member
- Aug 9, 2010
- 400
- 95
Very similar stuff I do, but instead of using categories, I use pages and sub-pages as they are cooler than posts.
Posts link to author, pages don't
Also, I prefer my own version of silo, but the default one everywhere-taught silo might get the job done as well
Hi royserpa
How do you name your urls for pages and subpages? For example, say your primary page is blue widget and your sub page is buy blue widget? Will it be overoptimized eg yourdomain.com/blue-widget/buy-blue-widget/?
arganrecords
Elite Member
- Oct 12, 2013
- 1,678
- 2,114
Guys if you need to show only related pages use this plugin: https://wordpress.org/plugins/related-links/
You can choose manually which pages link in a root silo page
You can choose manually which pages link in a root silo page
- Mar 10, 2010
- 42,695
- 107,107
I use just about every backlink in the book when building a site; I start with authority/parasite backlinks though as I like to establish that the site is not just a run of the mill site but one that has sites with authority talking about it.
I almost never just paid links though... there are just too many ways to get quality links without breaking out the wallet.
Great as usual
BTB please look at the pictures below and let me know if it's a correct structure.
I have to say that the blog has no categories. This one is for a company website.
For a company site that is not bad... I would probably add in a larger page/post under those that you have there to kind of push them.
I do not usually use sub pages for a site as most of my content are posts. But when I do, I sub page my Power Page, and do that when I am working a tougher KW.
When they click on the category page, they get a legitimate article that covers some of the KWs but gives an overall view of the thought process behind the category. They will also have some links to the posts in the category as well as to the Power Page.
My sites all have links to the home page in either the top menu, side menu or in the footer and mainly for the search engines as I do not drive traffic to the main page usually.
Footer 99% of the time.
I almost never actually target a second/third KW on a page but I will allude to it or even have it in there as that is natural if they relate. I often will link to the other page that is targeting that KW should I mention it though but it has to be in the same category for me to do that.
Don't be sorry for asking... we all need to ask at various times and I oped this thread so that others could see what I do that works and take advantage of my little knowledge here as well as have others share what works for them in their version of a Silo Structure.
It is all about helping those that are interested in learning and implementing.
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zoewarrior
Regular Member
- Aug 9, 2010
- 400
- 95
Hi BassTrackerBoats
How do you name your urls for category and posts in that category? For example, say your category is blender and one of your posts for that silo is countertop blender. Will it be overoptimized eg yourdomain.com/blender/countertop-blender/ and the title of the post is "How To Choose A Good Countertop Blender?
How do you name your urls for category and posts in that category? For example, say your category is blender and one of your posts for that silo is countertop blender. Will it be overoptimized eg yourdomain.com/blender/countertop-blender/ and the title of the post is "How To Choose A Good Countertop Blender?
Ambitious12
Elite Member
- Jun 26, 2014
- 3,109
- 616
Stunning Idea I must say for when I gonna start wordpress site.
Bookmarked!!!
Thanks BTB
Bookmarked!!!
Thanks BTB
Raven13
Power Member
- May 31, 2011
- 659
- 417
Exaaaaactly what i was looking for! you're sharing gold buddy!! I have a website of +200 articles(all 500 words), do you think I can restructure it? I don't have a category page, nor a main page. The main page show recent articles. Is it possible to add a main page of 2000 word + category page of 1500 words and rework the structure to make it silo?
- Mar 10, 2010
- 42,695
- 107,107
Your category slug should be customized to be different from the category name; an LSI slug works well and the same goes for the permalink for your posts. Always change it up so that there is some difference between the title/KW and the permalink.
I do not envy the work you have ahead of you should you choose to do that as it is 200 articles BUT I would certainly do that. Also, be sure to set things up so that there are no dead (404) pages that do not redirect to the new page url.
simply
Junior Member
- Jul 1, 2012
- 169
- 85
Hi BTB,
Thanks a lot for helping us by sharing all these great guides.
Can you be kind enough to speak more on "Interlinking" of your silo structure. I mean how the silo posts are linked to each other. I assume that "category" page contain all the links to that category posts. Does each post has all the other post's links to that category?
Do you like to use sidebar for showing "Related posts/Pages" or you use custom sidebar or menu?
What your thoughts about, "breadcrumb" in silo.
Sorry to ask so many questions, but will be really helpful.
Thanks
Thanks a lot for helping us by sharing all these great guides.
Can you be kind enough to speak more on "Interlinking" of your silo structure. I mean how the silo posts are linked to each other. I assume that "category" page contain all the links to that category posts. Does each post has all the other post's links to that category?
Do you like to use sidebar for showing "Related posts/Pages" or you use custom sidebar or menu?
What your thoughts about, "breadcrumb" in silo.
Sorry to ask so many questions, but will be really helpful.
Thanks
methodman90
BANNED
- Oct 10, 2013
- 293
- 141
So you create in a site lets say with 500 posts and 5 categories about 5 power pages per category? i know where it fits as it look like 'flying posts' but in avg you create a few power page for category right?
I don't see any difference between power page and anchor page. From your desc and scheme you interlink both them and posts and category page plus you create these both where it would've made sense a subcategory.. please explain the difference..
I don't see any difference between power page and anchor page. From your desc and scheme you interlink both them and posts and category page plus you create these both where it would've made sense a subcategory.. please explain the difference..
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methodman90
BANNED
- Oct 10, 2013
- 293
- 141
So you do only 3 level deep homepage>category>post or you go also for 4 level deep? How you go about that?
- Mar 10, 2010
- 42,695
- 107,107
I randomly interlink between related posts in a category but I do not have a set plan for that but EVERY post in a category is interlinking to at least one other post.
I do use the sidebar most of the time; usually I'll have a menu on top with the categories and the sidebar has my power pages and some of the recent posts and that helps with the on site navigation for the visitor and also for the search engine bots.
I only have one power page per category and that is pretty comprehensive page and is done fairly early in the game when I am building a site and the anchor page is done late in the game. Part of the difference is on site but a larger part is off site as the anchor page gets a lot more linking to it than the power page. The power page also has a main KW in there and the anchor would have 6 - 8 of the KWs I use in my posts as the focus as opposed to a main KW like the power page.
I do only go 3 deep as much more than that causes an issue with the search engine bots from what I have experienced.
GroundUp
Regular Member
- Jan 1, 2015
- 333
- 310
just wondering how to add content to category page - the least technical way possible. there are a few plugins, most of which havent been updated for years. and ive found one recently updated but doesnt have a lot of installs or reviews. Ill test it. but was just wondering if theres something im missing.
