6 Best Practices for Structuring an Ecommerce Website
Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2024 3:27 am
Did you know that the structure of your ecommerce website affects 75% of your store’s credibility? Considering you only have 50 milliseconds to make a great first impression and your customer’s perception is what matters, the structure of your website and its perceived ease of use are crucial to increasing sales.
Great user experience (UX) in ecommerce is a blend of intuitive site-wide navigation, individual page layouts, and product search functionality. The best part is that you have creative control over your online store.
So, what does a general ecommerce website structure look like?
The best way to think of your online store is as a pyramid. At the top is your homepage armenia telephone number data which is where most people enter your website and browse other pages.
E-commerce website structure
Source: Fabric.inc
Then come the categories and subcategories that branch out like a tree. For example, if you run an eCommerce store that sells cosmetics, the categories could be lip pencils and the subcategories could be matte finish, liquid lip pencils, stick pencils, etc.
Individual pages are the final layer of the pyramid and focus on a single product – for example, a liquid lip liner from a specific brand.
So why is e-commerce site structure important?
A typical eCommerce website is bound to have a lot of pages and links. If structured properly, it will allow end users to find what they want with minimal hassle.
For example, if a person wants to buy sheets, they can click on the category or type in the search bar to view all the options and choose something they want.
This reduces the number of steps in the sales funnel and increases the likelihood of conversion because they don't have to put in as much effort to check what they want.
Bad website architecture
Source: Dinarys
The structure of an e-commerce site is also very important for SEO. When a Google crawler visits a website, it examines the content, meta tags, and overall structure. It then sends its findings to the search engine's servers for indexing purposes.
When you meet all the parameters, you have a better chance of ranking and therefore attracting more visitors to the site.
In addition, you should also pay attention to the usual "hidden pages" such as the privacy policy, website terms of use and cookie policy in accordance with your business's GRC policies.
This ensures that all mandatory pages on your ecommerce website are present, easily accessible, and not blocked by browsers.
Best practices for structuring an ecommerce website
Now that you know what an ecommerce site should potentially look like and why a structure is important, let's take a look at how you can strengthen your online store:
Create a structured hierarchy with up to three levels
Since the homepage is at the top of the hierarchy, followed by main categories (level 2), subcategories (level 2), and individual products (level 3), there are a few things to keep in mind:
Limit the number of categories to 10. Adding more than that will complicate matters for you. Remember, you are not Amazon or eBay.
The number of subcategories should be limited to 5-10 and this number should be less than the number of subcategories.
Do not repeat category names in subcategories and tags as this can get confusing in the long run.
Draw the site hierarchy on a whiteboard or use a tool like Miro or Creately .
Understand the importance of effective ecommerce navigation
Once you have your categories and subcategories complete, design a user-friendly menu to hover or click on and place it at the top of the page. The header also includes the shopping cart icon and login button. Here’s an example of a header menu from Allbirds:
Significance of eCommerce Navigation
Source: Allbirds
If a customer clicks on the "Women" tab, they can see how neatly all the categories are laid out. With another click, they can browse "Flats" or "Socks." They can also browse "New on Sale" items to browse at their leisure.
Great user experience (UX) in ecommerce is a blend of intuitive site-wide navigation, individual page layouts, and product search functionality. The best part is that you have creative control over your online store.
So, what does a general ecommerce website structure look like?
The best way to think of your online store is as a pyramid. At the top is your homepage armenia telephone number data which is where most people enter your website and browse other pages.
E-commerce website structure
Source: Fabric.inc
Then come the categories and subcategories that branch out like a tree. For example, if you run an eCommerce store that sells cosmetics, the categories could be lip pencils and the subcategories could be matte finish, liquid lip pencils, stick pencils, etc.
Individual pages are the final layer of the pyramid and focus on a single product – for example, a liquid lip liner from a specific brand.
So why is e-commerce site structure important?
A typical eCommerce website is bound to have a lot of pages and links. If structured properly, it will allow end users to find what they want with minimal hassle.
For example, if a person wants to buy sheets, they can click on the category or type in the search bar to view all the options and choose something they want.
This reduces the number of steps in the sales funnel and increases the likelihood of conversion because they don't have to put in as much effort to check what they want.
Bad website architecture
Source: Dinarys
The structure of an e-commerce site is also very important for SEO. When a Google crawler visits a website, it examines the content, meta tags, and overall structure. It then sends its findings to the search engine's servers for indexing purposes.
When you meet all the parameters, you have a better chance of ranking and therefore attracting more visitors to the site.
In addition, you should also pay attention to the usual "hidden pages" such as the privacy policy, website terms of use and cookie policy in accordance with your business's GRC policies.
This ensures that all mandatory pages on your ecommerce website are present, easily accessible, and not blocked by browsers.
Best practices for structuring an ecommerce website
Now that you know what an ecommerce site should potentially look like and why a structure is important, let's take a look at how you can strengthen your online store:
Create a structured hierarchy with up to three levels
Since the homepage is at the top of the hierarchy, followed by main categories (level 2), subcategories (level 2), and individual products (level 3), there are a few things to keep in mind:
Limit the number of categories to 10. Adding more than that will complicate matters for you. Remember, you are not Amazon or eBay.
The number of subcategories should be limited to 5-10 and this number should be less than the number of subcategories.
Do not repeat category names in subcategories and tags as this can get confusing in the long run.
Draw the site hierarchy on a whiteboard or use a tool like Miro or Creately .
Understand the importance of effective ecommerce navigation
Once you have your categories and subcategories complete, design a user-friendly menu to hover or click on and place it at the top of the page. The header also includes the shopping cart icon and login button. Here’s an example of a header menu from Allbirds:
Significance of eCommerce Navigation
Source: Allbirds
If a customer clicks on the "Women" tab, they can see how neatly all the categories are laid out. With another click, they can browse "Flats" or "Socks." They can also browse "New on Sale" items to browse at their leisure.