Before people start to build their sites, they need to have their keywords as well as an organizational plan. Organization is not only important to give users the best experience possible, but it also plays an important role in search engine optimization too. Siloing is a particularly powerful technique that helps accomplish both of these goals.
Choosing the niche level
The first step in organizing a site is to consider how deep to go into the niche. For example, a site about golf would likely be too broad a topic and very difficult to rank for. Therefore, it is necessary to go deeper into the niche. A step further into the niche could be “men’s golf.” However, even that would likely be too broad a topic for most people. Thus, they might want to further narrow the main theme of the site to something like “men’s golf clubs.” A smaller site that is more narrowly focused could perhaps only cover a certain type of golf club. 
How far people go into their niches should center on how big the site will be and how much they plan to put into it. A bigger site in which considerable time and resources will be devoted to can go for a broader niche while smaller sites need to stay more focused.
Categories and Siloing
All but the smallest sites need to be organized around categories. Using the golf example again, a site about golf clubs could be categorized by the type of club. Depending on the size of the site, there could be five to six main categories with these main categories divided into two or more subcategories each.
This technique if often called siloing. Each category can be thought of as kind of a mini site under a common theme with internal liking kept within the categories/silos or to and from the main page. The search engines are known to favor sites that follow this structure, and it also will make the site more navigable and popular with visitors.
Organizing site silos
The site structure should in part take into account keyword phrases that have been chosen for their low competition. By optimizing a site for these keywords, webmasters can get the first natural visitors to their site. As the site’s links and traffic grow, so will its ranking which will in turn bring in more visitors from more broad searches. Some tools for finding these keywords can be found at How to Find a Niche.
Deciding on categories
Once the keywords that will be utilized have been decided upon, a blueprint of the basic site structure and categories should be made. This can done based on the seed keyword phrases that will be used as well as the future planes for the site. It is also a good idea to look at the competition to see what they are doing. Do a search of the main theme keywords and look for ideas from the top ranked sites.
The basic layout and strategy
Keep in mind that the basic layout should be somewhat triangular shaped. Starting with the theme of the site and the main categories, the structure will widen towards the bottom with the subcategories and the target keyword phrases (often called long-tail keywords) at the bottom. Linking and other search engine optimization efforts should start with these long-tail keywords and move up the categories as the site begins to rank and get natural traffic.
With the right planning and structure, building a website is not only easier, but the site will be better for the users and the search engines. Any investments in time and money put into planning before building a site will certainly pay off later.
