Themed pyramid

which way up?

[cherryl]

This is my second post. Thinking back, my first was pretty naïve. But I’ve taken a lot on-board reading all these incredibly helpful discussions, so much so that I got my home page into number two spot on Google for my top keyword combination. (Ironically I had just hired an SEO expert to create a tunnel page to do this, as my efforts didn’t seem to be working. Before he got underway he tells me I’m already at number two. So it’s all thanks to what I learned here.)
So now I’m ready for the next big step. I’ve got a really neat dynamic site (which I had professionally built before I knew how reliant I’d be on Search Engines) except it doesn’t have much scope for optimizing. So I want to build a set of static pages expressly to focus on desired keyword phrases. It would be a themed pyramid offshoot to my existing site. What I don’t exactly understand is the reason why I should use vertical links and not also horizontal links. There is not a lot of thematic difference across the site. So is there still an advantage in keeping walls?

Let me outline the plan. The site is a state-wide directory of widget outlets. So at the top of the theme pyramid is the page (for keywords) Widget Outlets for State&Country Name. The next level has three pages i.e. self-serve outlets, boutique outlets, mega outlets. Under each of these would be pages for every major region that has outlets.

So I guess my question is: someone, other than a robot, might expect to have direct access to the other types of outlets in a particular region. I could, of course, go for a wide shallow pyramid with the regions as the second level. Is the pyramid thing appropriate in this instance? Do I just need a bunch of doorway pages that offer whatever sensible internal links and also direct users into the dynamic site. Or has the theme pyramid still got better SERP potential in this case?

Thanks
Cherryl

[Brett_Tabke]

>So is there still an advantage in keeping walls?

If the content is really close, then I would doubt you'd need to get fancy. However, even on "close content", there are differences. I think you've already id some of them. Even if you don't use a sort of pyramid, the logical content breakdown is good for "wrapping your brain" around the site in a structure fashion, and also for user navigation.

The surpise I've got from theme'ing is how thinking in turns of the pyramid helps navigation. I started using these "related links" at the bottom of all new pages. At first it was just to drop links for the search engines, but it has turned out to be a great navigation aid for users. example [searchengineworld.com]. Those "related" links turn into big feeder pages for other pages, that in turn feed still other pages with traffic. Since I started doing that style heavily in January, the click ratio peruser has notched up 2 full page views!

[cherryl]

So providing providing plenty of links (lower in the pyramid) to related material wherever it is on the site helps to maximise use. Thanks this makes good sense to me.