SEO can be defined as the set of activities that a webmaster can undertake to influence how well her site ranks on search engine results pages (SERPs). Given the fact that the rankings position of your website for desirable keywords can mean the difference between a deluge of traffic and a trickle, SEO is certainly worth pursuing.

You can hire search marketing companies like JCJ Interactive to do your SEO for you. Companies like ours can help you build orginal, quality content that search engines love, select the right target keywords, and create quality backlinks to your site from other quality sites.

However, achieving the very best-possible SEO results also requires that you structure your website strategically.

Let’s review how to do this by comparing example Case A and Case B below, then point out exactly why Case B is better than Case A.

Suppose you own a website that sells furniture. You want a particular page featuring a certain coffee table (model 1343) to rank well for the term “coffee table” on major search engines. Let’s look at two URLs examples, as well as the reasons why one is better than the other. Remember, by examining the URLs, you can get a direct view into how the site itself is structured.

Case A (good): www.[YourSite.com]/Model1343_CoffeeTable

Case B (better): www.[YourSite.com]/LivingRoomFurniture/CoffeeTables/Model1343_CoffeeTable

(note that the brackets [ ] used above simply indicate that this is a sample URL)

Here are the 3 reasons why “Case B” is better than “Case A”:

1. Case A simply tacks the page in question directly onto the Home Page. In other words, this particular pages “dangles” directly below the Home Page in terms of the site’s hierarchy. Meanwhile, Case B clearly employs a more complex hierarchical approach, classifying the particular model under the “Coffee Tables” section, which in turn is itself classified under the “Living Room Furniture” section of the site. This type of organizational scheme is valued more by search engine algorithms because it implies forethought during the design phase of the website. In other words, the search engine algorithm favors the fact that the website designer apparently put effort into making the site user-friendly and easy to navigate.

2. Case B has more relevant keywords in the URL itself, including featuring the word “Coffee Table” twice. (Search engines love it when relevant keywords are embedded in URLs).

3. Case B is simply more user-friendly. If you are a user visiting that site and searching for the coffee table in question, it is much easier to navigate when it is organized in this way. And, user-friendly websites cause people to stay on the sites longer – which is another feather in your cap when it comes to rankings.

For good SEO, in addition to building backlinks from other relevant, high-quality sites, be sure to pay close attention to the structure of your website.