Information architecture in the online store – clear paths for visitors and search engines

Around 40% of eCommerce traffic is provided by search engines. In addition to direct access, web searches on Google & Co. are therefore the most important and largest source of visits to eCommerce websites. So if you want to run or set up a successful online store, there is no way around optimizing your web presence and sales channel for an improved search engine ranking!

That’s why, in our four-part blog series SEO for online shops important tips on the topic of SEO. We will cover the topics of information architecture, content, technical SEO and AI tools in eCommerce.

Our first part deals with the question of how you should organize, structure and build your content in order to increase usability for your visitors and the chances of better visibility in the search engines. We will focus in particular on the category structure, navigation and URL design.

But be careful! Adjustments to the information architecture and category structure have far-reaching consequences and can cause considerable losses in visibility if accompanying measures are not taken. So please proceed in a planned manner and also take note of our tips at the end of this article.

What does information architecture mean in terms of SEO?

The information architecture of an online store describes the structured organization and design of information and product offerings. Good architecture ensures good usability and user experience for visitors because they can quickly find what they are looking for. On the other hand, a structured layout also results in a clear-cut clustering of relevant content and ensures positive signals for search engines with its clever links.

The key elements with which you can influence a stable and targeted information architecture in your online store are categorization and navigation, URL design and directory structure as well as search and filtering. In the following, we will show you what characterizes a good information architecture and how you can score points with humans and machines.

Hierarchy, category structure and navigation

First things first: Amazon is the best example of how a large number of categories and subcategories can also work in a simple and straightforward presentation. There are reasons for this, but we won’t go into them in detail here.

Nevertheless, the principle applies: less is often more. That’s why you should consider the structure of your online store from the perspective of your target group and take a close look at your own product range. How will your customers search for their desired item and what questions will they use to approach the product?

Your task is to derive from these considerations how the hierarchical organization and structure of your content can elegantly guide store visitors to their destination. The less your customers have to think for themselves, the better. You should therefore take a close look at the necessary click paths to the product and make them clear and quickly accessible.

When planning the individual category areas, you should also consider whether they are absolutely necessary or whether they can be combined under other supercategories or deleted altogether. At the same time, you should always keep an eye on expandability. After all, if you want to expand your product range in the future, it should be possible to integrate it into the existing category structure in a sensible way.

We recommend that you create a detailed plan for this, drawing on any experience you may have and also on feedback from your customers. This will help you find out how you can improve the content and structure of your site to provide more orientation and shorten click paths.

Tips for designing the category structure and navigation

• Consider habits
  Choose a place for the navigation that your store visitors are already used to and give it enough space. In the desktop version, you should get by with a maximum of seven menu items – for mobile views, the burger menu has established itself and proven itself.
• Readability and meaningfulness
  Menu items and category names have one main task: orientation. You should therefore name these items as briefly and concisely as possible.
• Clear menu
  Especially with large (mega) menus, you should invest a lot of attention to detail so that clarity and attractiveness are not lost in the jumble of information.
• Responsive design
  To ensure that your product range pages are easy to use and accessible across the board, you should ensure that you use a design that works well on all devices for the navigation (and preferably for the entire online store).

URL design and directory structure

The URL design and the directory structure reflect the path that store visitors use to find your products. They should clearly show not only the people in front of the screen, but also the search engines, where they are currently in the store and what can be found there. There are a few clear basics that you should bear in mind when naming your URLs.

Good: https://www.beispiel.de/blog/seo-tipps-onlineshop
Bad: https://www.beispiel.de/index.php?id=12345

Good: https://www.beispiel.de/kategorie/unterkategorie/seitenname
Bad: https://www.beispiel.de/page123

Good: https://www.beispiel.de/smartphones/iphone
Bad: https://www.beispiel.de/kategorie/handys/iphone/apple/smartphones

Ideally, the URL also contains the appropriate and relevant keyword for the page content.

Good: https://www.beispiel.de/handy-testberichte/apple-iphone-13
Bad: https://www.beispiel.de/p=123

Please don't! Mistakes you should avoid

• If URLs contain cryptic character strings such as combinations of numbers or letters that make no sense, this is not only incomprehensible for users, but it is also unattractive for search engines to display the URL and path on the search results pages.
• URLs can contain parameters, i.e. additional information that is appended to the base URL. The parameters in this example show that the store’s language output has been set to German: https://www.beispiel.de/schuhe/sneaker?lang=de
  URLs with a large number of parameters are difficult to read and understand. They should be avoided if possible.
• If different URLs refer to the same content, this poses a problem for search engines. We then speak of duplicate content. To avoid such duplicates, we recommend setting a canonical tag that refers to the original source of the page’s content.
• A directory structure that is too deep in a URL can impair the user experience and make navigation more difficult. A flat directory structure helps to keep URLs short at this point.
• Some web servers and operating systems treat upper and lower case differently in URLs. When creating URLs, we advise you to make sure that you write everything in lower case and only use hyphens to separate words.

Internal search and filter options

Good search functions and filter options in the online store are other important tools to help your visitors find the products they are looking for. Starting with prominent placement and the quickly accessible search field (or the magnifying glass in mobile views), an intelligent search takes synonyms, spelling mistakes and other variations into account to ensure that the search results are relevant and targeted for your customers.

This not only improves the user experience, but also increases the time spent on your online store’s pages (duration time), which in turn is a clearly positive signal for Google & Co.

Targeted filtering and sorting options allow users to narrow down the product selection based on their individual preferences and needs. A variety of filters, such as price, brand, size and color, allow users to quickly and efficiently find the items that are relevant to them. This not only helps to improve the conversion rate, but also provides search engines with more detailed insights to better assess the relevance of the pages and potentially rank them higher.

Therefore, a well-optimized internal search and sufficient filter options are very crucial components for a successful and sustainable SEO strategy.

The information architecture is the foundation - but there's more to it

For all those who want to get started: If you are planning, rebuilding or have a major relaunch ahead of you, you should take our recommendations to heart and try to implement them as far as possible. This will put you in a good position.

Caution for all those who are already in productive store operation: If you have an established store with visibility in organic search and are already generating valuable traffic, then you should think carefully about where and how improvements are worthwhile. And you should know exactly what you are doing to avoid incurring heavy losses due to a lack of referrals. If in doubt, we recommend getting help and using our partner network for implementation.

The structure and information architecture are key criteria for the search engine friendliness of your online store. They not only influence how users interact with your online store, but also how search engines capture and review your content. Good search engine optimization is only the beginning of a well thought-out information architecture!