A website consists of a set of pages. The number of these pages can vary up to several hundred million pages depending on the type of website and its field of activity. A website may initially start with a limited number of pages and gradually increase the number of pages and its efficiency as needed.
The important question is how to understand the overall structure of the site and the hierarchy of its pages.
Naturally, the designer and programmer of the website should be aware of the overall structure and main pages of the website at the beginning of the website design process. Otherwise, the result is a disorganized website in which the user gets lost and cannot easily navigate through the pages of the site.
This is why site designers use a concept called Web Structure Tree to understand the structure of the site. In this article, the complete introduction of the Web Structure Tree and its different types has been discussed.
Table of Contents
What is a web structure tree?
A web structure tree or Web structure tree shows the organization of pages and content of a website and its hierarchy in the form of a diagram. So that the main page is at the top of the tree and the other pages are its subcategories.
In a web structure tree, each page is displayed as a node or tree point. Connections between pages are also shown using lines. This tree helps web designers and developers to have a more detailed view of the overall structure of the website and to better understand and improve the connections between pages.
What are the advantages of using a tree structure for site designers?
A web structure tree is very important for organizing website content. By using it, you can understand what the main pages and sections of a site are and what content should be produced for it. In general, the advantages of using the tree structure of the web are:
1. the Better layout of site pages
Web structure tree helps designers to arrange website content and pages in an organized and logical way. This orderly structure helps users easily understand how to access the information they want.
2. Improve the user experience
By using the website structure tree, users are quickly and easily directed to the desired pages. This increases user satisfaction, reduces the bounce rate, and increases the duration of their visit to the site.
3. Improve site SEO
The website structure tree helps search engines to better understand the content of the pages and the relationship between them. This helps the website to be in a better position on the Google search results page and thus increases the click rate. Also, the website structure tree helps with the internal site search.
4. Ease of website management and development
By using the website structure tree, the development team can plan the development of the site in the best possible way and perform their tasks more accurately.
Web Structure Tree design steps
The design steps of the website structure tree completely include the following:
1. Checking the needs of the site
In the first step, the requirements and goals of the website should be checked. You should carefully consider what kind of content, pages, and features the website needs and how these elements should be organized. For example, if the website is a store, the product category and blog pages should be designed optimally. And if it is a corporate website, more work should be done on the service introduction and about us pages.
2. Create a hierarchy chart
In this step, you should create a hierarchy diagram that shows the structure of the website pages according to the goals and requirements of the site that were specified in the previous step. In this diagram, the main page of the site and landings and sub-landings and sub-pages should be placed hierarchically and logically.
3. Basic internal linking
At this point, you need to link these pages with internal linking. These links should be created accurately and logically to direct users to the desired pages quickly and easily.
4. Review
After creating the tree structure of the website, it is important to check and revise it carefully. If you feel that the tree needs editing, apply the necessary improvements and ensure that the tree structure of the site is properly designed.
Types of Web Structure Tree
The tree structure of the website has different types according to the type of site and its complexity.
Static Structure Tree
This tree is the simplest type that shows the basic and basic hierarchy of the website. For example, this tree contains the main sections such as about us, contact us, blog site, the introduction of services and products, etc., which every website should have. This type of tree is also used for small websites with a limited number of pages.
Dynamic Structure Tree
This type of tree is usually used for very large websites with a very high number of dynamic pages. For example, on the website of a large store, there are various filters for product categories, and by adjusting these filters, new dynamic pages are generated.
Sitemap
A sitemap or sitemap is a file with an XML extension that helps search engine crawlers to access all the pages of a site and index them. The sitemap does not display the site map graphically and is only used to help search engines.
Graphic site map
This type of tree is the same tree structure that is visually and attractively displayed. In this type of tree, in addition to displaying the pages of the site, other types of content, including images and videos, are also placed.
Introducing some practical tools for Web Structure Tree design
To design the tree structure of small websites that have a limited number of pages, no special software is needed and you can design it easily and manually. But designing a site tree for large and complex websites is almost impossible without tools. However, in this section, three application software for designing the tree structure of the site have been introduced to you, which you can use for any type of website.
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office has a very useful tool called SmartArt, which is used to draw hierarchical structures and diagrams.
Canva
Canve is an online tool that has free templates for designing organizational and hierarchy charts.
Creately
Creately is an online tool that you can use to design complex tree structures and include any type of information.