Silo Architecture and Mobile First

[Satans_Apprentice]

This goes to the age-old SEO argument - how many links in the navigation.

1. We are a well-known brick and mortar brand
2. We have 20,000 SKUs and over 500 categories and sub-catetgories.
3. 95%+ of our backlinks go to the home page. We don't have a blog, but it's in the works.
4. Our site is not responsive. It serves up different versions based on device type, but is not an "M Dot".
5. Our rankings are pretty strong in spite of a large number of technical SEO issues (different discussion).

Currently, our  e-commerce desktop site is "Siloed" (I'm new to the company - I didn't do it). The home page links via the top nav to categories. The category pages link to subcategories via sidebar navigation, or via images on the category pages (instead of product images). It's pretty close to textbook silos, and it's very near how I would have designed it.

This silo architecture passes the most link juice to our categories which target our highest search volume (head) terms. The categories pass link juice (albeit significantly less) to our subcats which target secondary terms. In terms of search volume and commercial value, our tiers line up very neatly. On average, the targeted subcat terms get about 1/6 of the volume of our head terms.

The Silo concept has been around forever, and is evangelized by Bruce Clay and other respected SEOs. Every time I've siloed an ecommerce site, the rankings improve dramatically, so who am I to argue?

So, what's the problem? Read on...

Our mobile navigation, on the other hand, links to every category and subcategory via flyout navigation (I didn't do this, either). In theory, this distributes an equal amount of link juice to all categories and subcategories. It robs link juice from our categories and passes it to subcategories.

Right now, this isn't a problem. Rankings are based on the desktop site, and minor adjustments are made for mobile rankings.

When Mobile First rolls out, our mobile nav will be the default navigation for Google, and in theory, link juice distribution across the site will change radically, and potentially harm our rankings for our head terms.

I always study site architecture for a number of respected ecommerce sites. Target and Walmart, for example, link to every category and subcategory through their mobile and desktop navigation.  Wayfair takes a silo approach on mobile and desktop, linking in tiers.

I would argue that Walmart and Target have so much DA/TF/CF that they don't give a damn about targeted link juice distribution - it's all about UX. Wayfair's backlink profile is strong, but it's not Walmart or Target, so they need to be concerned about link juice distribution - hence the silo approach.

Have the Google spokespeople said anything about this? I see this as a potential landmine across the industry. Is this something I should be concerned about? Has anyone had any experience with de-siloing a website? Am I making a big deal out of a non-issue?

Please - no arguments about usability. UX is absolutely part of the equation. Usability is a ranking factor, but if our rankings and traffic take a nose dive, UX isn't going to matter.

This is a theoretical discussion discussion on link juice distribution, and I know that compromises need to be made between SEO and UX.