What is Taxonomy SEO?
Taxonomy SEO is the practice of classifying, arranging, and organizing a site’s content in a hierarchical manner. It allows visitors and search engines to understand the relationship between the various content published on a site.
Taxonomy SEO makes it easy for visitors and search engines to navigate and find relevant content on a site. This ultimately leads to better search engine rankings e user experience for visitors.
Examples of Taxonomy SEO
Categories, subcategories, and tags are three commonly used taxonomies. For example, a food and baking blog could have categories like cookies, bread, cakes, pies, and recipes.
The recipes category could also contain subcategories like birthday cake recipes, biscuits, muffins, cupcakes, and drinks.
Tags, for their part, are not always visible on the webpage since they are often reserved for search engine crawlers. However, when visible, they will typically be displayed at the end of the content.
Importance of Taxonomy SEO
Taxonomy SEO allows bloggers to organize their content so that it is easily navigable for visitors and search engines. This improves the user experience for visitors, enables them to find content quickly, and increases their chances of spending more time on the site. It also reduces the bounce rate of the site.
As for search engines, taxonomy SEO improves their ability to crawl and understand the site’s hierarchy. This improves the crawlability e indexability of the site’s content and increases the chances of search engines discovering and displaying them on search results pages.
Relationship Between Taxonomy SEO and a URL Structure
Taxonomy SEO and URL structure go hand in hand. A good URL structure should reflect the taxonomy SEO on the site. For example, if a website separates articles into categories, the category URLs can be structured like this:
https://yourdomain.com/category/recipes/
Similarly, the subcategory will follow this format:
https://yourdomain.com/category/recipes/cakes/
Meanwhile, tag pages will typically follow this format:
https://yourdomain.com/tag/cakes/
This way, visitors who encounter the URLs above will know it leads to a category or tag page even before clicking on it. In all, a good URL structure makes it easier for visitors and search engines to understand the site’s structure at a glance.
Four Types of Taxonomies
There are multiple types of taxonomies. However, four common ones, which you would have likely come across, include:
- Hierarchical taxonomy
- Flat taxonomy
- Network taxonomy
- Faceted taxonomy
1 Hierarchical Taxonomy
Hierarchical taxonomy is a taxonomy system that organizes content into categories and subcategories. For example, the recipe site below uses a hierarchical taxonomy. When you hover over the categories, it displays the subcategories within it.
When you click on a category, it typically opens a category page containing the subcategories within the category.
Sites with large amounts of content use the hierarchical taxonomy because it allows visitors to navigate from broad categories to more specific subcategories. This is helpful for visitors looking to drill down into specific topics and subtopics.
2 Flat Taxonomy
Flat taxonomy is a taxonomy system that organizes content into categories. This taxonomy does not contain subcategories and is commonly used on simple websites.
For example, the food blog below uses a flat taxonomy that splits its content into categories like recipes, baking tips, and book reviews. The categories do not contain subcategories.
Visitors who click on a category are sent to the category page containing links to the webpages available under the category. For example, when we click on recipes, we are taken to the category page containing every recipe on the site.
The flat taxonomy is straightforward since visitors only have to navigate a limited number of categories. However, it is less descriptive, even for a small site, and will become less descriptive as the site grows.
3 Network Taxonomy
The network taxonomy organizes webpages based on how related they are to one another. These webpages fall under different categories and subcategories but are brought together so visitors can better understand and explore the topic.
For example, this hardware company created a network taxonomy for customers who wish to learn or resolve issues affecting multiple products.
Visitors who click on the available options are sent to a page containing links to the webpages available on the network.
4 Faceted Taxonomy
A faceted taxonomy is a taxonomy system that allows visitors to filter the content displayed on a page. This allows visitors to select the attributes of the content they want the site to display.
The faceted taxonomy is common on ecommerce sites. For example, this site allows visitors to select the attributes of the product they want the site to display.
When we select the attributes, it only displays content that satisfies them. For example, the e-commerce site only displays resistance bands used for full-body yoga exercises after we selected them.
How to Optimize for Taxonomy SEO
Optimizing a site for taxonomy SEO involves several strategies to improve site structure, enhance user experience, and ensure search engines can effectively crawl and understand your content. Here are some techniques to consider.
1 Use Appropriate Taxonomies
Use a clear and logical taxonomy that properly organizes your content. It should reflect the relationship among your webpages and help visitors and search engines to navigate your site easily.
For example, small sites should consider flat and faceted taxonomies, while large sites should use hierarchical and faceted taxonomies. Ecommerce sites should include hierarchical and faceted taxonomies.
2 Use Descriptive Titles and URLs
Avoid using generic or numerical URLs or irrelevant or unclear titles for your taxonomies. Instead, your taxonomies should include titles, keywords, and URLs your visitors know.
Visitors should be able to tell what the content is about by looking at its title or URL. Such names and URLs are also helpful for SEO as they let search engines understand the content they lead to.
3 Optimize the Category and Tag Pages
Optimize your categories and tags pages so they can rank on search results pages. Create unique and keyword-rich meta titles and descriptions for them. Then, ensure they contain valuable and informative content.
You may also include images, breadcrumbs, and introductions to such pages. In all, you should treat your category and tag pages like the other pages on your site and not consider them an afterthought.
4 Use Internal and External Links
Include external and internal links where appropriate on your taxonomy pages. This helps distribute PageRank e link equity across your site.
The internal and external links also make navigating between related topics, content, and taxonomy pages easier for visitors. This improves their user experience. In the case of search engines, it allows them to find and index your content.