Using SEO silos can improve your website organization and boost your authority for specific searches terms. If you cannot implement a physical SEO silo on your website, a virtual silo structure can achieve a similar effect.
In a physical silo, supporting pages within the silo are structured under a category page in your website’s directory. With a virtual silo, pages are connected with interlinking. Let’s take a closer look at what a virtual SEO silo is and how you can use it on your website.
What Is a Virtual SEO Silo?
A virtual SEO silo is a silo created through interlinked webpages on a website. Rather than placing the pages under a silo category in your site’s directory, you simply link pages within a silo to create connections. Each page within a silo is linked to every other page in the same silo, but the silos themselves do not cross link.
For example, let’s say you want a silo for wet dog food. You have a category page for Wet Dog Food that lists the different flavors you have. Each flavor has its own page, and the flavor page links back to the Wet Dog Food page. The flavor pages would not link to flavors in the Dry Dog Food silo, but they could link to other pages in the Wet Dog Food silo.
How to Implement a Virtual SEO Silo Structure
To implement a virtual silo structure, you need to make sure that every silo has a category page and at least five supporting pages. The category page will link to all of the supporting pages, and all of the supporting pages will link to the category page in some way. Ideally, the supporting pages should all link to one another, in addition to linking to the category page. You could achieve this with a navigation list of links towards the bottom of each of the pages that showcases other pages in the same silo.
You can create a virtual silo with new or existing webpages. Physical silos impact the URL structure of each page, which makes them tricky to incorporate on existing webpages. Doing so would change the location of the page on the site, creating broken links and faulty navigation.
Can You Link between Different Virtual Silos?
If you must link between two different silos, make the outgoing link point to the category page for the other silo. Do not link supporting pages to one another as that will interrupt the all-inclusive nature of the SEO silo structure. Linking to the category page will show search engines that you are transitioning to a new silo and will help the content stay as separated as possible. As you continue to build upon your silos and create new silos for your website, you will need to remember to keep linking within the virtual silos as much as possible.
Remember that the goal of any SEO silo is to create a clear map for search engines and visitors to follow. This creates a better user experience and helps your webpages get indexed on search engines. Physical silos are ideal, but they aren’t an option for all websites. You can create a virtual silo no matter what, as long as you have the right site organization plan.
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