Information architecture and SEO

Keywords and inbound links are primary aspects of search engine optimization (SEO). But they only help improve our sites’ positions in search results — they don’t cause people to actually click on those links. And once we get visitors to our sites, keywords may or may not help keep those visitors there.

The main goal of information architecture and SEO is to connect people with the products, services, and information that we offer. How do we optimize our site information beyond just keywords to attract people to visit and stay for a while?

Understanding information architecture

First, let’s look at what information architecture is. Online, information architecture is how we organize website content. It’s the categories and structure of the whole site as well as of individual pages. Without good organization, we’ll still get site visitors, but if they can’t easily find what they’re for, they may leave.

Keywords in context

When we see a page of search results, do we click on the links in the order in which they appear? While some people do, a lot of us read the text displayed with the links to see how the keywords are used. If the sentences containing the keywords have information that’s relevant to us, we’re more likely to click on those links.

If the context as well as the keywords is useful, the text that appears with search results will influence more people to click on the links to our sites.

Keywords in key places

In addition to helping with search engine ranking, keywords help visitors find what they’re looking for once they’re at a site. Most people skim and scan a page rather than reading every word online.

When we think of keywords as not just bringing visitors to our sites but as signposts helping them find their way around, it’s easier to know where to use them:

• In titles and headings
• In link anchor text
• In menu text
• In captions

And, of course, in the rest of the content, in context.

Content layout

If the top-ranking pages for our search terms have long, dense paragraphs and few or no headings, are we going to read those pages? Not likely. Web content is easier to read when these techniques are used:

• The paragraphs are a variety of lengths and are not too long
• Informative headings are used
• Bulleted text and illustrations are used for some content

Directories and structure

When similar content is grouped together and interlinked, it’s easier for people to find and to return to. A directory for each content area provides a logical structure. On the other hand, it’s believed that search engines consider pages not in the root directory to be less important.

The best compromise probably depends on the size of the site. With a small site, all the pages can be in the root directory without causing confusion. Larger sites benefit more from having directories for each content area. In addition, when keywords are used in the directory names, those keywords help with SEO and help site visitors with navigation.

Internal links

Clear navigation is part of information architecture. The menu link text should be informative. Breadcrumb navigation can help visitors see the path to the page they’re on, as can a site map. Ideally, no page should be more than three clicks away. Every page should be accessible to search engines via links unless we’ve chosen to hide that page from searches for some reason.

In addition, internal links throughout the text help visitors jump to related pages. Links to reviews or more information about a product, for example, are helpful if they’re right with the product. Links to related articles are also useful. The Contact and About links should always be in sight so that visitors can find out more at any time.

Information architecture combined with SEO helps us not only get more site visitors, but have them stay and use the site as we intended it to be used.