Website architecture - levels vs filters and authority loss - Enterprise SEO

[Carla_Dawson]

Hi Everyone,

I am participating in the development of a marketplace website where the main channel will be traffic via SEO. We have encountered the directories (levels) vs filters situation.

1. Does everyone still agree that if we have too many levels, authority is loss as you do down through the levels? Does everyone agree that there should be a max of 3 levels and never 4.

Example 1

www.domain.com/level1/level2/level3

vs

www.domain.com/level1

In theory, the content on "level 3" will have a lower DA than the content on "level1".

2. Does everyone agree that for enterprise SEO (huge marketplace websites) filters are a better idea than levels?

Example 2

www.domain.com/level1/level2/level3

vs

www.domain.com/filter-option1

In theory, the content on "level 3" will have a lower DA than the content on "filter-option1".

Thanks so much in advance

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Hi Carla,

As a website gets larger, it makes sense to have a tiered structure rather than place everything one 'click' from the root. Yes, PA will diminish as you get deeper into a site, but a carefully planned internal linking plan will put paid to that - as will building links to internal pages.

As for filters vs levels, it depends hugely on the site, niche, users and what other competitors are also doing ('follow the winners' type of thing), as well as what makes the most sense for the site structure. There is no definitive answer to this one.

As for a 4th level, if a common sense structure calls for a 4th level, then don't try and bypass it and ruin usability for the sake of one less click. I have worked with many sites that have more than 4 tiers and never encountered an issue.

I hope this helps?

-Andy

[RyanPurkey]

Folders tend to be useful for large structural sections of a site, especially when addressing issues that may arise within a given area, i.e. using folders for blog, forum, FAQ, etc., due to how each one may be running different software and need different analysis with Analytics.

Once those different sections are identified, using filters within those sections is fine, and often a default naming convention for a given software solution. Ultimately SEO is a consideration in URL structure, but not the only one you're going to make. As Andy says above, it's largely dependent on the needs of the site. Plus, getting page-level engagement and sharing will outweigh the URL structure benefits. Cheers!

[Carla_Dawson]

Hi Andy and Everett,

Thanks for getting back to me. Your "Follow the winner" advise I think is spot on and from what I see "winners" are using filters more than folders for products. The site I am working on is going to be a big Marketplace (more than 450.00 products) and so I think I will go with the filters approach mostly. We will be adding region as a filter. I will use folders for blogs, contact pages, and so forth.

Thanks again..the site should be live in about a year so.!

[Carla_Dawson]

Hi Ryan,

Thank you for your advise. The marketplace is going to be a big site so I think we will go with using both filters (mostly for product segmentation) and folders for blog pages, contact pages and so forth. Thanks again.