Website Silo Architecture
From Wiki
Website Silo Architecture
| You can picture a silo website structure as an inverted tree structure with the home page at the top, linking down to each silo landing page, and these landing pages linking to articles further down the silo. |
Generically a silo is defined as a construct used to keep things separate or compartmentalized.
Silo Theming: "A website architecture based on a linking structure that segregates various themes into different 'silos' so that people and search engines can easily identify the main topics of a website. Approximately 50% of the theme of a page is communicated by on-site linking. This communication happens most effectively with a website silo architecture which, in turn, can help lower the costs of website rankings by up to 90%."
Sue Bell,
CEO, Theme Zoom LLC
| Here is Matt Cutts giving a quick lesson on themed architecture. Website Silo Architecture is the primary way to implement a themed architecture. WSA is themed architecture style that, when implemented properly, helps a webmaster rank higher for potentially thousands of keywords using up to 90% fewer inbound links over competitive sites that are structured poorly. |
Theme Zoom Krakken is the only natural language processing software in existence that helps you to automate the process of researching and outputting a Website Silo Architecture Blueprint.
You may want to read the blog post Missed Opportunity #4: Applying Keyword Research Data to Website Silo Architecture
A website silo architecture helps define an overall market theme, as discussed by Bruce Clay in his original work on website silo architecture:
Bruce Clay on silos, themes and website architecture
Also see our blog post on the topic of inbound linking, which is the core advantage of Website Silo Architecture.
Basic Silo Website Architecture Description
A silo structured website will have a linking structure whose different themes or topics are relegated to individual silos.
The website's index page will have a link to the top page of each silo. These top silo pages are known as the "silo landing page". Pages within a silo will link only to other pages within that silo and optionally to the landing pages of other silos.
Outbound links to other websites are not allowed on the index page or the silo landing pages; they are only allowed at the bottom levels of the website tree.
There are two styles of silos: directory and virtual. The directory silo is a structure that is created using folders, or directories, on the website. Each silo is contained within its own directory.
Virtual silos are created solely via their linking structure, and have either no folder structure (as in a CMS-based website) or ignore the folder structure in use.
For more information about silos, see the Network Empire Member's Area.
The primary benefits of Website Silo Architecture:
1. WSA (Website Silo Architecture) is a little known and seldom implemented site building method that allows you to rank higher using up to 90% fewer inbound links than your competition.
2. Most professional SEO's find Website Silo Architecture method to difficult to implement because until now it has taken a lot of planning and tenacity to effectively produce. Website Silo Architecture is especially difficult for the neophyte to implement, which is why SEO mavens like Bruce Clay and Red Door Interactive charge their clients tens of thousands of dollars to create silo structured sites. Russell Wright was introduced to Website Silo Architecture by Bruce Clay in 2004. Theme Zoom Software Architect Sue Bell was the first known person to successfully automate this method.
3. Most SEO's must spend excessive amounts of time focused on off-page ranking factors and especially inbound link building. An average of 90% additional link building efforts are needed when on-site theme architecture has not been utilized to effectively communicate the website themes to the search engines. Proper theme architecture combined with theme mirroring of inbound links will significantly reduce off-site content and inbound links building required to establish high rankings. This can result in huge savings for their clients.
4. Google's own Matt Cutt's has acknowledged the superior ranking and content delivery strategy of a properly themed website.
5. Through the auspices of Pay Per Click Silo Mapping, any Pay Per Click (adwords) campaigns become competitively superior and more stable when the bots "see" that the targeted landing page is a themed website. Additionally, you improve your adwords quality score when the bots "see" that the targeted landing page is semantically related to the ad while containing inbound link juice from theme matched off-site authority pages.
In Domain Web Studio you can create up to a 4 level website silo architecture:
Home Page -> Silo -> Category -> Supporting Article
When dominating a niche, the supporting articles level is usually not required. Your website structure will typically be sufficient with three levels; home page, silos and categories.
When dominating a market or a broad topic, a fourth level is sometimes necessary.
Note: Do not confuse Micro-theming for Website Silo Architecture
Please also see PPC Silo Mapping
Want some power tools that help you accomplish Website Silo Architecture? Visit Theme Zoom.
