Are Your Categories SEO Sleek or WalMart Wobbly?
By Terry Heath · Print This Article
If I go to WalMart looking for soap, I walk in the front door and scan the scene for the cosmetics department. Then I look for a sign pointing out the aisle where soap might be and make a beeline for it. You won’t see me browsing; I don’t have time and I don’t like being bumped into by other peoples’ shopping carts or listening to screaming kids. I’ve learned to quickly find the item I need.
- Find an appropriate store
- Locate the appropriate department
- Pinpoint the exact aisle
- Grap the product and get out
When I’m looking for something online I don’t have to worry about things like departments and aisles. I can Google a topic and be taken directly where the information is posted. The process is much quicker than shopping at WalMart.
But even though we all realize finding information on the Web is infinitely quicker than finding soap at WalMart we still tend to organize our blogs and websites like a bunch of little WalMarts. We may not set up departments and aisles, but we do tend to build long lists of categories, subcategories, and tags.
I need WalMart to have departments and aisles so I can find my way from the front door to the soap. I don’t need a blog or website to be compartmentalized the same because I don’t usually enter them from the front door. A search engine takes me directly to the page I want.
So why do we still act like people are entering our websites by the front door? Even the visits I make regularly are made by clicking a title in an RSS reader or email. If I do visit a site by the front page I’m probably not looking for anything in particular. It’s usually interesting headlines or images that grab my attention.
If I do happen to look at a rambling list of categories located in some blog’s sidebar, it doesn’t hold my attention very long, if at all. But on the other hand, if there is a list of articles I’m likely to peruse it for something interesting.
I don’t think I’m much different than the vast majority of web users. We don’t browse websites to find our soap; we get what we need and get out, and if we do pause to browse a little only the most interesting things will get our attention.
It turns out all those categories and tags aren’t too good for a website’s SEO either. Even if you don’t believe in such things as the dreaded “Duplicate Content Penalty”, you might realize the problem when the changing content on category and tag pages is indexed on Google. It produces broken links and frustrated information seekers.
Sure, you can block your category and tag pages through a little robots.txt magic. But why not just get rid of them or at least whittle them down significantly?
Chris Pearson came up with an excellent use for categories in his post “What Every Blogger Needs to Know About Categories“. Using two or three categories, not only can you guide readers to your best and brightest content, but increase the number of direct links to your internal pages (great for SEO) and combat the dreaded WordPress “page bloat” as well.
Chris points out:
Whether you’re selling products, writing copy, or designing interfaces, you can benefit from playing into basic human psychology. And interestingly, with Website categories, accommodating natural human behavior also turns out to be an excellent SEO strategy!
In short make a few categories like “Must Reads” and a couple broad topics, then instead of listing your categories, make each category a list. Here’s the code (thank you, Chris) I used in my sidebar:
<?php
query_posts('category_name=Popular&showposts=5');
while (have_posts()) :
the_post();
?>
<li><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark"><?php the_title(); ?> <?php comments_number('0', '1', '%'); ?></a></li>
<?php
endwhile;
?>
The idea of streamlined categories isn’t likely to storm the Internet overnight, but it is catching on. Here are lists of popular bloggers sporting SEO-sleek and category-congested sidebars (or footers!):
SEO Sleek |
WalMart Wobbly |
|
|
Great post Terry.
And I admire your guts, because in here you described how you and I, and many others (mostly males) shop.
But what about the real expert shoppers? Those who really like to browse and walk all the aisles that are available?
Guess you have to write another post for these people.
Anyway, you got me thinking.
Going through Chris’ post too.
Thanks.
Case’s last blog post..Impact Factor Reaches The Masses
Nice article!! It’s something we should all pay more attention to-although I admit I really do for my clients-less so for myself.
@Case: I knew there was a potential can of worms in this post because some people do love to shop. So it only works as a blogging analogy to an extent. Even if someone loves shopping, truth is we’re entering websites through back doors, more and more.
But maybe I will still try to think up a post for shop-until-you-droppers!
@Marianne: Isn’t it funny how we often take care of others so well and let our own lives (and websites!) coast by? But it’s a little like how stewardesses tell you in the event of an air emergency to put the oxygen mask on yourself first, then someone you’re with, so you’re healthier and better able to help.
Great Post. I agree, from what I have learned / read, successful blogs are only on one topic. Too many topics hurts its chances of being rated high in search engines and struggle to find constant viewership.
Very interesting analogy. I’ve been thinking lately about the “invite-only” betas and early adopters. Many of us swoop in, take a quick once-over and then potentially abandon a site if it doesn’t meet our standards, only to move onto another. Scavengers, indeed!
To continue along that line of thinking, though, does the appearance of crows (if the site is indeed worth it) scare away the more coveted birds? Do we invite-junkies clog the pipeline for the desired demographic?
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@Andrea: You raise some interesting questions. I don’t know that the invite-junkees would clog the pipeline, since they’re just using and presumably adding to a site. They’re also likely to promote the site and help it get off the ground.
It would be interesting to see if crows do scare away the finches or if the finches are just getting better at ignoring. I know marketers are often viewed as a nuisance, but I wonder how often they actually chase other users away.
a bunch of little walmarts. that’s one for the books.
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Amazing post and you are very true the title which we select for our categories have long lasting effect in our business and our rankings.