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How-to 7 min read September 6, 2019

How to optimize the nesting level of pages on the website

Site structure affects the speed and efficiency of promotion. If your architecture is simple and structured, web robots will be able to recognize and scan the content of the landing pages faster and with better quality.

What is the nesting level of pages

Nesting level of the page - is its location in the hierarchy of the website in accordance with the main page. Parameter is labeled by whole numbers, starting from 1. Submit the website in the form of a tree:
Site tree example
Its trunk is the main page, the nesting level of which is equal to 1. Branches, which extend from the trunk - are documents with the nesting level 2. Branches, which extend from other ones - are web-documents with the nesting level 3 and more.

Why are nesting levels important for web robots

The higher the level, the harder it is for the user to overcome the way from the main page to where the information needed for him is located.

  1. The main page is considered a root level. It has the most weight.

  2. Documents, one click away from the main page. They have medium importance.

  3. Sections, two clicks away from the main page. Links on them are located on the web-pages with the nesting level of 2. Differ by the lower importance.

  4. Page with the nesting level >3. It has minimal importance as compared with the previous ones.

The nesting level of the page affects an aspect if the web robot finds its way onto the page or not.

How to estimate the nesting level of pages on the website

Apart from the number of clicks from the main page, SEO specialists also count the nesting level, using the URL. The last is assigned to every document, so using it you can get straight to the needed page, avoiding the long way from the main page. You should not count folders, but slashes. For example:
http://example.com/folder1/folder2/folder3/folder4/…
In this case, nesting level 4 of the folder is not equal to four, but five. Because the nesting level is the number of clicks until the needed page from the main one, parameter is not counted from the starting point on the site, which can be imitated by any web-page.

Web robots are less loyal to the longer URL. Usually, these documents can, in the end, be left unscanned. But if this URL will be in the site map, it will be scanned normally.

How to adjust and optimize the nesting level on the website

During the nesting level adjustment you should base upon one easy rule: the furthest documents should be located, maximum, 2 clicks away from the main page.

If the information hides further, search engines will think that the resource is too complicated in its structure plan for visitors. This will influence its position on the search results.

Exceptions meant in terms of large websites and online-shops, where such structure is necessary. In this case, the resource owners are saved by the website map, which is located on the site itself (HTML) and in the core folder (XML). The map helps the robot to locate and index even those documents, which are hidden very deep.

Advice on the nesting level adjustment

1
Think through the menu attentively. Thanks to this method, you can assign the second level to dozens of pages. This way users can orientate better inside them.
Site menu structure example
2
Do not overload the structure. To not overload the structure of online-shops; during their development, follow the scheme: main / category / product. It is better to get rid of unnecessary folders.
Perfect site structure for SEO
3
Do not use the nesting level of 3 or more. Documents with the nesting level of four and more should be used only in large online-shops. In this case, the structure may look like this:
Site tree for a large online store
The other variant of the structure: main / category / subcategory / product.
Example of the online store structure
The same structure can also be used for a massive, informative website. Correctly allocate the key phrases:

  • high-frequency keys - on the main page;
  • medium-frequency keys - on the pages of second level;
  • low-frequency keys - on the pages with the nesting level of three or more.

For optimization, you can also leave links in social media on pages, which are located deep in the website. In such a way, references are formed, which can attract not only visitors but search crawlers. It is natural, that link mass, interlinking will increase the whole weight of the page before the web robot eyes.

Conclusion

Nesting level of pages affects on promotion, so do not ignore the recommendations of SEO specialists about its adjustment.

Make pages with the maximum nesting level at three. Such a resource will like the visitors and web robots.

If you cannot create a website with documents with a nesting level of >4, then carefully think through the structure, fixing it in the website map. Also, use the posting in social media with links to deep site pages for an additional method of promotion.

This article is a part of Serpstat's Checklist tool
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Checklist is a ready-to-do list that helps to keep reporting of the work progress on a specific project. The tool contains templates with an extensive list of project development parameters where you can also add your own items and plans.
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