The structure users want is called taxonomy. Organizing and categorizing items according to their characteristics is the basis of the scientific system of classification known as taxonomy.
The structure of a website can have an effect on the customer experience and can also determine how it stands when it comes to a search engine. This article will explain the concept of website taxonomy and provide the tools necessary for putting together a productive organizational approach for a website.
What is a website taxonomy?
A website taxonomy is the system of organization used on a website that classifies the content into an easy-to-understand and navigable structure, enabling users to find what they are looking for quickly. It may seem like there are various subsections and pages within a website or divisions within a blog when looking at it.
The way in which URLs are set up to show what is on the different pages of a website is connected to website taxonomy. Every website domain remains unaltered for all URL addresses, however, subfolders and URL slugs change as the page content gets more precise.
For example, say your website’s primary domain is www.samplewebsite.com.
Your domain will have groupings within it that relate to the page’s material. If your sample website has either a ‘Contact’ section or an ‘Announcements’ page, the web address will change depending on the content showcased on that particular page. The web addresses for these pages are www.samplewebsite.com/contact and www.samplewebsite.com/announcements, respectively.
Why is a website taxonomy important?
A carefully crafted system of classification can significantly enhance the way people use your platform, particularly when your material is systematically arranged. If visitors can easily access your website and find the information they need, they will consider you to be a reliable resource and remain on the website for a longer period of time.
Sites that do not have an arranged layout usually make it hard for people to interpret. Around 38 percent of website viewers will abandon a page if it is not well-structured.
Having a properly structured taxonomy is essential for maximizing your website’s search engine optimization. It will help bots rapidly access and index your site as the taxonomy is simple to recognize.
Let’s take a look at this in the context of a hypothetical website. Say you own www.recipes.com. You need to organize your site into categories so that your visitors can find the recipes they are looking for rapidly. If they’re on the hunt for desserts, likely they desire to see those recipes through the designated category page, instead of skimming through a list of unrelated dishes.
The URL for this page would be www.recipes.com/desserts. The user is aware of the content that is contained in these specific types of recipes. For search bots used by search engines, the URL folder assists them in comprehending the subject of the page and when it should be shown in the search results.
Why Taxonomies Are Ignored in Search
In most cases, Google search results do not include archived pages from websites (including WordPress) like Categories, Posts, and other content. Instead, Google gives preference to individual Pages, Posts, and Recipes that have exceptional content.
It is utterly suitable; Google has unequivocally expressed that they wish to give users precisely the data they desire. The outcome of this is that website operators are not giving much consideration to advancing the use of arranged and curated content, e.g. catalogs.
Types of Website Taxonomy
After determining who your target audience is and devising keyword-appropriate classifications, it is essential to choose the classification system that works best for your website. Taxonomy is a system of classifying things and it appears that the most sensible way to do so is through a hierarchical structure that orders items by their importance. However, this isn’t always the case. Let us have a look at the various varieties of website hierarchies so that you can choose the one that will be most suitable for your page.
Flat Taxonomy
A flat taxonomy, also known as an unlayered taxonomy, is a straightforward list of major categories. Every category on this website has the same level of importance as the other ones. This structure is ideal for websites with limited content.
For instance, a vet clinic will probably not have many demands that need to be fulfilled. The head page will only contain a few parts, such as ‘Information around Us’, ‘Set-up a Meeting’, ‘Area’, and ‘Facilities’. There’s practically no need for anything past that for guests visiting the website.
Hierarchical Taxonomy
A taxonomy organized in a hierarchical structure is composed of categories that are categorized according to importance. Websites of larger size generally utilize it, and the highest level of classes are expansive. Moving down a hierarchical structure means getting more specific. This enables users to recognize and easily move between different parts and classes. Search engines will recognize these relationships as well.
Network Taxonomy
A network taxonomy involves organizing content into associative categories. The connections and affiliations between different types of things can be intrinsic or random, yet they should have relevance to people who utilize them.
For illustration, a “Most Favored” type of web page may have collections of miscellaneous articles about varied matters that are liked by that crowd. Despite their differences, each of these locations is highly praised, looked at by many, and visited frequently by others.
Facet Taxonomy
A facet taxonomy is employed when it is possible to assign certain topics to multiple distinct classes. Websites utilizing this framework enable visitors to look for specific information by arranging for various attributes. It’ll be great for those who will access a certain material through an assortment of means.
For example, Nike sells a variety of different products. There are divisions for footwear and apparel, and then further divisions for shade, dimensions, and cost. A footwear item that is displayed in the results of a query for ‘blue shoes’ could also be displayed in a compilation of discounted shoes because that particular pair is currently being offered at a reduced price.
How WordPress Uses Taxonomies
For websites built in WordPress, Categories and Tags are usually employed to sort Posts, which generally comprise blog entries, articles, news items, and press releases. A Sidebar may feature a listing of Categories, or if you are viewing a particular Post it may be found underneath its title. You may also find a Tag Cloud on the page bottom which displays the Tags usually used, but Tag Clouds are far less popular in 2022 as a result of how they appear on mobile devices. Messages are also sorted out by Creator and Date, normally alluded to as Document pages.
This can be quite advantageous for user experience. A visitor to a website could take pleasure in reading a piece and search for other articles related to the topic in the same category or pieces composed by the same author.
The disadvantage is that Google may view these separate Post repositories as duplicated material. When all is said and done, search engines like Google may remove content from their index if it is discovered that it is a duplicate of another, or most probably, the website’s influence will be spread too widely, resulting in the pages not being able to get a high rank when specific keywords are being looked up.
The strength of a website is finite and it is necessary to ensure that this power is directed to the main pages and posts within the site by connecting them through internal links for the best SEO capabilities. We can incorporate the categorization of a website into this plan by bettering the quality of articles and the association of the categorization pages.
What are Custom Post Types in WordPress?
Using Custom Post Types is an advantageous way to display certain kinds of content, including Recipes and Case Studies. Many plugins can be used to create extra Custom Post Types, meaning a website can possess Pages, Posts, as well as Recipes. These Custom Post Types might include extra fields, which could potentially lead to further taxonomic organization. By default, WordPress only includes Pages and Posts as Post Types – there are no Custom Post Types. Nevertheless, certain Themes may include one or multiple Taxonomies, such as Portfolio Categories and Tags, depending on the features available.
Custom Post Types Can Have Their Own Taxonomies
It is possible to build separate organizational systems in WordPress for Custom Post Types.
For example, you can create a special type of post that focuses on Recipes and add additional valuable information by creating custom categories. An illustration: When making portions of food, the person responsible may be capable of sorting by Cuisine (Italian, Thai, Japanese), Time of Day (breakfast, lunch, supper), Facility (elementary, mid-level, expert), Eating Habits (gluten-free, not hot, plant-based, Keto) and far more.
When the classification of information and content gets complicated, it may be beneficial to gain a better appreciation of the scholarly method of arranging information and data. Here’s a helpful way to think about what happens when your taxonomy gets more complex than Categories and Tags, excerpt on facets and hierarchy from keypointe.com:
If you believe your topic is appropriate for a classification system, then use a hierarchical categorization. If you are experiencing difficulty making your taxonomy with too many duplicated elements, consider constructing a faceted taxonomy instead. When you have multiple entries that are the same in a taxonomy it indicates that the structure is not organized in a hierarchical format.
Facets will handle three or more dimensions of classification. If it is possible to divide the entities into three or more categories that do not overlap and that together cover everything, then facets would make for a suitable classification. Aspects can be employed to arrange anything from the entire extent of human knowledge to the items in your wardrobe, or anything else in between.
The Opportunity for Taxonomy In SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) and the development of a content plan for a web page typically take the form of refining and improving the content that is already in place on the site, as well as forming new content concepts (blog articles, videos, infographics, etc).
It is vital, however, one should not forget the immense potential that lies inside the SEO Taxonomy strategy. More than likely, there are plenty of past web pages that can be arranged, upgraded, and optimized. The cause of this issue often going unnoticed is due to the lack of all-inclusive, ready-made instruments to accomplish this, and that is what we are going to discuss. In most scenarios, it’s not very straightforward, and as a result, it gets postponed.
Some Best Practices for Taxonomy SEO
- Use the excerpt field on your Posts so that the description that appears on the archive page is unique from the content on the Post itself. You are much better off crafting a couple unique sentences describing the Post, rather than WordPress grabbing the first 50 or so words.
- Use the Featured Image functionality on your Posts, so that that image is pulled onto the archive page, which will increase visual appeal, progression rate, and time on site. Be sure to format your images to be web-friendly before uploading to WordPress, and assigning values to the image’s alt, title, and caption fields.
- For the Introductory Content on a taxonomy page, use a compelling image and write 200-400 words or more. Think of this page as an informational page, not an archive page. Focus on providing visitors good context and useful information based on the searches that would bring them to this page. You might also include content after the post section.
Challenges You Might Encounter When Implementing Website Taxonomy
At the present time, there are no straightforward solutions for putting a Taxonomy into effect. The challenges are:
- There is no default ability in WordPress to change the Title of a Category or Tag to something user-friendly, although a plugin like Yoast WordPress SEO can help with this from a template standpoint. For instance, a Tag for a Yoga site might be “balance” and that would display as “Search Results for Tag: balance”. Even if you could strip out everything but the Tag name, you would not want to rename the Tag something like “Read more about balance in yoga” because of how that Tag title appears elsewhere in WordPress Pages and Posts.
- The active theme for a WordPress site is responsible for activating and displaying the Description field on Categories, Tags, and Custom Post Type taxonomies. By default, this is turned off, so more often than not, a theme will not enable this.
Put time into your website’s taxonomy.
Developing and keeping up a fruitful website taxonomy that is comprehensible to users and search algorithms is critical for your advertising initiatives.
If you have already optimized the other aspects of your website for SEO purposes, a structured taxonomy can contribute towards getting a higher ranking in the search results. Furthermore, it will make it easier for users to navigate around your website.
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