Structuring My Site for Google - Hub Structure?

How to best structure my site for google and other engines.

[netnerd]

I am developing a new website. Based on the original google algorithms, a structure with a main page (A) which links to a series of sub pages (B,C,D,etc) where B,C,D link back to only A is the ideal one for getting a the highest PR for PageA. With me?

If i interlink all the pages, then the page rank is evenly distributed amongst all the pages.

If im trying to get my index page (A) in the engines, is the first approach best? Or will this have a negative effect wrt other engines?

Please help!

[killroy]

Nope, prefectly on target.

If you have more sublevels you should consider SOME horizontal linking for a better user experience. Please do a site search for "theme pyramid" for more info on that scheme.

SN

[Yidaki]

>do a site search for "theme pyramid"

... or go directly to the sew article Search Engine Theme Pyramids [searchengineworld.com]. ;)

[netnerd]

Thanks.

I was going to cross link the other pages using javascript links. Am I correct in my assumption that google will not see these links as links and therefore not see the BCD,etc pages as linking to one another?

[Yidaki]

netnerd, why use javascript? To hide the links from google? Makes no sense. As long as you are talking about crosslinking pages and not different sites, there's no reason to use javascript. You're correct, google doesn't follow javascript links (in most cases). IMHO themed / on topic crosslinking is one of the most important key factors for good rankings.

Do it as much and as themed as possible ...

[netnerd]

I am targeting a very competitive keyword with my main index page. By cross linking the sub pages, I upset the PR distribution in that i give more PR to the sub pages than if i used the A-B-A, A-C-A, etc structure.

By using javascript, I can interlink these sub pages 'transparently' to google, hence maintaining the maximum page rank for the index page.

Would it be better then to take a reduction in pagerank in favour of having more links to the other sub pages? I would expect nearly all my traffic to come from the two-barrel keyword i am targeting and am not really concerned with the rankings of these sub pages.

[wackmaster]

Actually, cross linking with Java might make sense if you don't want Google to account for those links but you want the users to have access to them...we did that on a site a while back.

Ultimately however, we decided it was easier to just pick a structure and stick to it. If you want more focus on the subpages for SE reasons, cross link. If you care most about the home page, keep it more vertical.

The bigger your site gets the more license you have to do some of both. At least that's what has worked best for us...

[netnerd]

Yeah wackmaster - that is exactly where i am coming from.

[Yidaki]

>By cross linking the sub pages, I upset the PR
>distribution in that i give more PR to the sub pages

>Would it be better then to take a reduction in pagerank in
>favour of having more links to the other sub pages?

Yah, that's the sense of the theme pyramids. The sub pages are your most important pages and will additionally push the index page for the more general keyword(s) if linked properly.

You should definitely read the theme pyramid [searchengineworld.com] article if you haven't allready!

It also helps to understand the importance of targeting a wider range of related keywords and phrases. Don't just target the most competing keyword.

[netnerd]

Yidaki

I see where you are coming from also. However, the main keyword is 20 times more searched for than even the number 2 keyword and falls off quite rapidly after that even.

I think i will try putting most importance on the index page for now, then as i add more content in the future, begin to cross link the new pages with html code.

Thanks guys.

[annej]

give more PR to the sub pages

I'm continually amazed at how many people come in through sub pages. Don't discount them as a path to get people into your site.

[TheWebographer]

Yes, you can have thousands of smaller-PR subpages, each working magic in search engines. Sure, you've got a home page with PR 7, say. But 10,000 PR 5's are going bring home in alot more visitors.

[netnerd]

Im not running a forum so I think i would be doing well to get thousands of pages. For the launch of the site, I think ill stick to my original tactic then begin cross linking as the site grows.

[mil2k]

Just a message:- Don't believe each and every conclusion of the pagerank calculator experiments.

[netnerd]

Yeah I know Mil2k. Im gona try it as an experiment and see what happens. I realise that no on outside google knows for sure how the engine ranks pages and it does change all the time.