category & subcategory tiers

hierarchic navigation menus

parent • sibling • child nodes

A common website hierarchical structure employs three levels of descending page importance prominence beginning with the Home Page at the top hierarchical level; Tier 1.

organizing logically tiered topics

main industry or sector

When organizing website hierarchy for seo enhancement, optimize for your site's keyword targeted opportunities.

Appoint the prime keyword phrase or two to the home page. Next, assign the most desirable subsequent keyword phrases to the tier 2 category menu items accordingly. Follow the tier 2 topics with associated Tier 3 subtopics as children contingently micro-derived from parental tier 2 keywords.

tier 1: parent or main website theme

Typically, top Tier 1 menu items include the Home Page. On the same level as the Home Page, share lateral placement with a Contact page, Site Map, and when appropriate, a Support Help and/or Log In page.

All topmost pages are available directly from at least one link on every page on the website. These Tier 1 pages, being the most important, are always accessible from a static position consistently placed throughout the website. Commonly positioned horizontally across the top header of all pages, Tier 1 level pages are within one click of every page.

tier 2: categorical siblings

Immediately following the Home page and its Tier 1 lateral siblings [contact, sitemap, support, login] is Tier level 2, a categorical menu composed of sibling branches. For example, a physician's website might start with Tier 1 [home, contact, etc], then branch out into Tier Level 2 positions that describe Specialties, or Areas of Practice, along with an "About Us" page, and perhaps "Insurance Info".

tier 3: subcategory child nodes

Tier 3 menu items are often formatted vertically in left or right column menus and may display only when the tier 2 parent category is active.

Under Tier 2 siblings such as "Areas of Practice", we would subcategorize down to "Geriatrics", "Urology", "Podiatry", etc. These areas of practice are sibling, or lateral categories comprising of Tier 3 menu items.

An invested website will be authoritative, and can further expand marketing reach and visibility by implementing a Tier level 4 menu. In this doctor's website scenario, a Tier 4 menu level, derived from Tier 3 subcategory "Urology" might digress into "Prostate Treatment", "Vasectomy", "Kidney Disease", etc.

tier 4: micro-category child nodes

All categories will benefit from keyword research, marketing gap optimization, keyword effectiveness index, and potential for client to profit from attracting business from end users searching for these keyword phrases.

Tier 2 menus items are generally displayed horizontally across the top of the page from left to right and consist of 5 to 15 main menu items. Tier 3 menu items typically descending into 1 to 15 tier 3 subtopics also keyword associated. This architectural seo strategy significantly boosting the relevancy and authoritative richness of the site as a whole, thus the ranking of each page individually, as well.

geographic & regional targets

For instance, your website main theme may be "San Diego", therefore you might assign Tier 2 Categories as:

• 2a: San Diego Nightlife
• 2b: San Diego Shopping
• 2c: San Diego Venues
• 2d: San Diego Beaches
• 2e: San Diego Tours
• 2f: San Diego Restaurants & dining
• 2g: San Diego Transportation
• 2h: San Diego Health & Beauty
• 2i: San Diego Professional Services, and
• 2j: San Diego Community.

types of places | services | product families

Maintain continuity between Tier 2 category siblings [immediate descendants of home page and main topic, in this example; About San Diego Website] and its respective tier 3 children, subcategories of Tier 2:

• Tier 2a Category San Diego Nightlife subcategorized to:
• 2a » 3 : live bands
• 2a » 3a: dinner shows
• 2a » 3b: live concerts
• 2a » 3c: theatre
• 2a » 3d: special events
• 2a » 3e: south of the border
• 2a » 3f: open late
• 2a » 3g: family events
• Tier 2b Category San Diego Shopping sub-organized:
• 2b » 3 : factory outlets
• 2b » 3a: shopping malls
• 2b » 3b: designer boutiques

Extending a wide reach across the San Diego keyword market will create search engine optimized content and authoritative status, while providing useful, current, and highly relevant themed content to site visitors.

hierarchical navigation vs. equivalent sibling pages

lateral siblings vs. tiered hierarchy

Google advises no page be further than 2 clicks away from the home page. With this in mind, it is important to note that usability experts recommend offering a site visitor a limited number of choices, or menu items, at any given time. The rationale behind minimizing the number of menu items displayed is to not overwhelm the site visitor with too many choices, thus layering the sections, categories, and subcategories into a hierarchic navigational scheme.

Many eCommerce websites are excellent candidates for a hierarchical, or layered, navigational structure. For instance, an online retailer might offer several different product categories such as bicycles, furniture, clothing, and electronics. Rather than clutter the home page with every type of appliance, accessory, and manufacturer offered for sale on the site, the merchandiser may choose to use subcategories and break, or "chunk", the content down to smaller subcategories available only after the site visitor has clicked on a parent category, i.e., a click on "apparel" might provide further choices that narrow down to men's, women's, children's, infants, outerwear, accessories, et al. Should the site visitor then select the subcategory "women's apparel" the products could be further compartmentalized into formal, casual, leisure, by designer, footwear, or categorized by blouses, pants, shoes, jewelry, clearance, and the like.

As an important step in our professional web design process, San Diego Web Studio will provide a website planning diagram similar to the navigational examples below to produce a logical and effective navigational structure for your particular end user's needs customized to your business' products and services.

equivalent sibling pages

unique web design situations

are some rules made to be broken?

Your business is unique...your site visitors have particular needs and perhaps immediate concerns or pending problems that you can solve...you cater to a niche target audience with a special cultural style...you offer novel products or services...you are introducing a new, nontraditional concept...you are establishing yourself or your company as an authoritative and comprehensive resource in your field and online community...you are competing in a very saturated and mature online market and must quickly convince your site visitors they will find crucial information...your end user faces a potentially threatening problem or situation and applicable information should not be layered or buried for him or her to find...

As each of our client's business, industry, goals, services, products, identity, and style varies, so does the need for a customized web design and presentation style tailored to their specific clientele. Could you improve your site visitor's response and experience by adjusting your navigational style accordingly?

Call us today at 619.504.0450 or eMail San Diego Website Design Studio ...why wait?