One of the most overlooked elements of a holistic SEO strategy is site navigation, or how users access all the content on your website. While a site's structure has a huge impact on its ability to rank well, the opportunity to do things right is often missed when the website is developed without input from the SEO team. Going back and trying to restructure a website after it's been built creates issues similar to what happens when you try to restructure an old house. Just like load-bearing pillars get in the way of creating open-concept floor plans in existing homes, restructuring an existing website comes with its own set of limitations. The best way to overcome these limitations is to get the SEO team involved at the beginning of your website project. For awhile we've been talking about the importance of user experience in SEO, and web designers are a great resource for understanding what the user wants and needs. However, when we design a website only with the user in mind, we may overlook some key elements for the search engines. A user might find your site easy to navigate, but if a search engine crawler gets to your website and doesn't know how to get to certain pages or understand what content is important, your site won't be able to rank well. The most optimal website structure should accommodate both the user and the search engine. In order to achieve this, we have to focus on two things: defining the user funnels and prioritizing the most important pages. Many websites give users the ability to get directly to any page of the site from the home page, either through dropdown menus, clickable icons, or both. While this structure is user-friendly, it isn't search-engine-friendly. The search engine needs to understand the most important pages of your site so that it can determine which search results your site will be most useful in. When your website tells the search engine that your Warranty Info page is just as important as your Available Homes page, the search engine assumes you're trying to game the system and may end up ranking you lower in the search results. What's more is that your website only has a certain amount of what's called "crawl budget," which is how many pages the search engine will look at when it indexes your site. In case you're unfamiliar with indexing, it's the process of search engines going to your site to look for content to deliver in search results. If a page of your site has not been indexed, no one will be able to find it in search. So you can see why you'd definitely want the search engine to prioritize indexing your homes and communities over things like About Us, Construction Process, and Warranty Info. Check Your Site Looking for an opportunity to improve your SEO with navigation structure? Use this checklist to diagnose any opportunities you may currently be missing out on without ever leaving your home page.

• Links to other websites or social media channels
• YouTube videos
• Drop-down menus
• Text links
• Pages linked to more than once (common culprits: Available Homes, Photos, Floor Plans, Models, Contact Us)
• Triple-linked clusters (photo + title + button all have links)

If you find at least three of these items on your website's home page, your website may benefit from an SEO Update. Contact abby@builderdesigns.com for more information.