What is Meant By ‘Website Architecture’?

You might have heard the term ‘website architecture’ being used if you work within the digital marketing industry. If, however, you don’t and you’ll still come across this phrase, then it might be that you’re having a new website designed for you and the experts working on your project have made some reference to it. Either way, you’re wondering what website architecture is and, most likely, why it’s an important part of website design and development. If so, you’ve come to the right place.

What is ‘website architecture’?

Website architecture is the designing, creating and implementing of a computer programme that is published and appears online. Usually, the programme will display useful information to website visitors and website developers and designers will make sure that the website performs as expected, giving it the capability to do what the user and the owner thinks it should do. 

The website architecture involves every single component of a certain application in a bid to aid website designers. This makes it so that the website is designed in such a way that enhances the users’ experience which, in turn, makes it more likely that they’ll return. The process of website architecture involves, and works to influence, the following things:

• Design – how to website looks to the user
• User experience (UX) – a website designer and developer will make sure the website has the functionality to appeal to its users
• IT infrastructure – involves the correct coding and software development to design the website to an excellent standard
• Software – robust software needs to be developed in order to fully-support the website’s functions, making it less likely that the site will experience downtime in the future
• Monetisation – something that’s incorporated into the fundamental architecture of a website than enables the monetisation of the programme
• Efficiency – the website needs to be efficient in its functionality, aesthetic and usability
• Reliability – how trustworthy and consistent a website is
• Scalability – allows designers and developers to increase the size and reach of the application, eventually, as and when needed
• Security – this refers to the network security that every website should possess to make sure that user data is protected at all times

Why is it important to structure a website?

Website architecture helps in a number of different ways. We’ll touch on the benefits in a moment, but for now, let’s focus on why it’s so important for businesses and organisations alike to have a solid website architecture in place. Website architecture is paramount because:

• It helps to encourage the crawling of your website by various search engines, including the top two: Google and Bing, thus making it more likely that you’ll rank in the search engines results pages (SERPs)
• It provides more pages for users to click on and navigate through, therefore encouraging deep site navigation in the process
• “Page authority” is distributed more fairly, meaning that no single page is left out unless instructed to do so by the developers, designers or SEO specialists
• Topical authority is strengthened meaning that search engines, such as Google, will have far more trust in your content, whether it be website pages or blog posts. This can be strengthened even further through the use of internal linking structure that goes between related subjects or similar topics
• Conversions can be increased as users will be able to navigate your site more easily and quickly whilst also having a great time in the process
• It acts as a fundamental foundation upon which quality websites sit

The benefits of website architecture

We have already touched on a few of the benefits of making sure your website is sitting on a strong website architecture, but it’s important that they’re discussed in further detail to highlight why website architecture is so advantageous to any website owner, especially if you’re running a business that relies on online exposure. Here are some benefits of website architecture:

Increased network security

The network security of a website is imperative for keeping sensitive user data safe. From names and email addresses to credit and debit card details, it’s important that they’re kept safe from leaks and hackers. If you have a solid website architecture in place, then you won’t have to worry about the aforementioned, giving you peace of mind that any data inputted into the site will be protected at all times.

Programme stability

This allows for several users, simultaneously, to access the programme you have in place without it malfunctioning or going down. This is especially useful if you’re planning on having a considerable number of people use your website, for instance, which many businesses will actually provision for anyway. Website designers and developers also see this as an important factor for a website in particular. It’s also something that is beneficial if you’re looking at training one or more staff and you need the same resource to be available to everyone at the same time.

The fast processing of user requests

If a programme is developed to a high standard and the code is clean then your programme is far more likely to be able to process the requests that, not only you make, but that your users make as well. This makes your website, for instance, much quicker and more efficient to navigate around, which is something that can help to set yourself apart from your competitors. It enhances the user experience without being too over the top or, on the contrary, like you’re not particularly bothered about the usability of your programme.

An improved ability to collect data

Website developers often collect data to be able to strengthen the site. This allows them to provision for a lot more, including excessive amounts of traffic. The data they’re looking for includes: how many visitors you can on a certain page, the location from which the user is visiting from, which pages are more popular than others and even where they land on the website from a search engine. 

This data is then collected and injected into the website architecture to ensure that a good experience is had by everyone who visits your website. It also enables the developer to produce a website that’s suitable for the target audience in particular. If you’re not sure who your target audience is, there are multiple ways in which you can find out. Here at Kumo, we devised an article all about how to find your target audience, so give that a read if you’re interested.

Kumo is a highly-experienced, forward-thinking digital marketing agency based in the heart of Nottingham, although we’re proud to serve clients throughout the UK. With over two decades of industry knowledge and expertise to draw upon, you can rest assured that you’ll be in the best possible hands if you’re looking to propel your business into the spotlight. From website design and development to writing the copy, right the way up to pushing your new website live and optimising it for search engines, we’re dedicated to providing you with a website you can be proud of. If you would like further information about our SEO, PPC, website design and development and content writing services, then get in touch with a member of our friendly, professional team today – we’re always pleased to hear from you.