Creating a seamless customer experience isn’t just about good web design or lightning-fast page loads, it’s also about how you structure your content. I’ve found that content silos are one of the most overlooked techniques.
While they’re often talked about in the context of SEO, content silos can also help to improve your users’ experience and create a more engaging sit. Find out how to structure your silos for ecommerce.
What are content silos and why do they matter?
A content silo is a method of organising website content and pages into clearly defined categories. You tend to create silos based on the theme of the content. Think of it as grouping related pages under one umbrella so that users and search engines like Google can easily understand what your site is about.
Unlike a flat content structure where pages exist in isolation, creating content silos group content based on relevance. For example, a cycling ecommerce site might have silos for ‘Indoor Training’, ‘Bike Maintenance’, and ‘Cycling Nutrition’. Within each of these silos, every page supports and links to others in the same group, building a coherent structure. Each of these pages will have a number of pages beneath it in the URL structure creating the silo or a stack of pages.
Let’s use ‘bike maintenance’ as an example. Your umbrella pages or parent page might focus on why bike maintenance is important, and that’s the topic of that page. Beneath that page, you may have ‘how to clean your bike properly’, ‘how to adjust your bike chain’, ‘how to adjust your brakes’ and ‘maintaining your gear selectors’.
These pages would be structured something like this:
domain.co.uk/bike-maintenance-guides/
domain.co.uk/bike-maintenance-guides/how-to-clean-your-bike/
domain.co.uk/bike-maintenance-guides/how-to-adjust-your-bike-chain/
domain.co.uk/bike-maintenance-guides/how-to-adjust-your-brakes/
domain.co.uk/bike-maintenance-guides/how-to-maintain-your-gear-selector/
This not only helps search engines crawl and index your site more efficiently but also creates a much smoother experience for your users.
The connection between content silos and customer experience
When a visitor lands on your website, they’re usually trying to solve a problem or find specific information. A well-structured content silo helps them do just that.
Instead of hopping between unrelated pages or using the site search, they’re guided through logically grouped topics. It’s like walking into a neatly arranged shed, you know where everything is. It’s all arranged in a logical order, and related tools are grouped together. Your screwdrivers and your screws are in one area, your hammer and nails are in another. This sense of logical order reduces friction, increases trust, and keeps users engaged for longer, which contributes to a better experience and a higher likelihood of conversion.
Building effective content silos: A step-by-step approach
- Identify key themes
Start by identifying the main themes or topic areas your audience is interested in. This can sometimes mirror your core products or services, but they should also focus on how your customers are likely to think. - Map the customer journey
Try to understand what your audience is searching for at each stage of the funnel, from awareness and consideration to decision. Try to use this to ensure each stage is supported by appropriate content within the silo. - Group related content
Once you’ve mapped the journey and identified key topics, group your content. Pages that answer similar questions or address the same audience intent should be housed together within the same silo. - Link strategically
Internal linking helps to tie a silo together. Make sure each page within a silo links to other relevant pages in the same group. This helps to guide users through the overarching topic and keep them on the site. I’ll also help with your onsite SEO by linking relevant pages together.
Using content silos to guide visitors to conversion
Great content silos don’t just inform the user, they also try to subtly influence them. By building a structured content journey, you can nudge users along the funnel, from awareness all the way to action.
For instance, someone landing on a blog about indoor cycling benefits might naturally progress to a buyer’s guide for smart exercise bikes and then to a product page. Each piece of content reinforces the next step, reducing drop-offs and encouraging users to convert without needing aggressive sales tactics.
This journey should feel helpful and not forced. Content silos let you achieve that balance by offering useful, related content at the time in the users journey.
SEO benefits that reinforce better customer experience
- Improve Crawlability
Silos help search engines better understand your site structure, making it easier to index content and surface the right pages for relevant queries. - Target Keywords More Precisely
Each silo allows you to focus on a tightly related group of keywords, improving relevance and reducing the risk of cannibalising rankings across multiple pages. - Build Topical Authority
By covering subjects in detail and keeping related content tightly connected, your site signals to search engines like Google that you’re a trusted authority on the topic, which can help you rank higher for your target keywords over time.
Common mistakes to avoid when creating silos
- Overcomplicating the structure
Adding too many silos or unnecessary subcategories can confuse users and dilute the SEO benefits. Keep your structure simple, focused, and easy to navigate. - Ignoring user needs
Don’t build silos based on your internal team’s perspective alone. Your structure should mirror how your audience thinks and searches and not just how your product catalogue is organised. - Neglecting internal linking
Content within a silo should be connected. If you miss out on internal linking, users (and search engines) might not see the relationship between your pages.
Measuring the impact: Content silo performance indicators
- Bounce rate and average time on page
Lower bounce rates and longer session durations often indicate that users are finding what they need and are willing to explore more within a silo. - Page depth
A higher number of pages viewed per session suggests that users are following your internal links and moving through the content journey as intended. - Assisted conversions
Check how often content within a silo plays a role in conversion paths. If your guides, blogs or landing pages assist conversions, it’s a clear sign the silo is doing its job.
