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Thanks, that's yed graph editor in action.

That software kicks @ss when making graphs, I use it all the time to map out my sites, just makes on-page seo easier when you start out with a plan.

The software is free btw.

Thanks,

You have a few options for the location of the links on the pages:

• Links in sidebar
• Links in content
• Links below content (recommended/related post)
• Links in CSS3

Links in the sidebar are ok, the catch is getting WP (Wordpress) to only display a list of links in a single category of the page your currently viewing. That might not sound like a big deal, but that's what controls your silo from leaking out in random directions.

Links in content are ok, like you mentioned your not going to want 30 supporting page anchor-text URLs spread out over a 500 word article, that would be horrible as a user experience.

Links below content as related post would be ok, with maybe 10 or less anchor-text links.

Links in CSS3 is a very good option that will allow you to do simple things like tabs. Each tab can hold a large number of links for example you might have 30 supporting pages (just an example), then you could do something like this in CSS3 code:

CSS3 Tab Demo here, notice the 2 tabs, more importantly notice the 2nd tab that has hidden content until you mouseover the 2nd tab title.

Now notice how both CSS3 tabs show all the tab content inside the Google Cache here.















Bottom line is everything needs to be user friendly & also perform well in seo.

[]
None of the text in the screen shots above matter, what's important in the CSS3 tabs is the ability to add links in a user friendly way & seo at the same time. Those links in the 2nd tab are all on the same page as your content will be, per individual page. The tabs don't pull data/links from a remote page, they pass authority as If the CSS3 tabs didn't exist.

That number (10) is not set in stone, that's why I said before, it all depends on how tough the competition is for the keyword in the SERPs.

Ten supporting pages is what I try to start out with only because I'm not sure what's going to happen in the SERPs before I ever build the first page in the silo.

If your going to a fight (SERP competition) might as well come out swinging.

Also look at it like this, even If you could get by with creating 5 supporting pages & those 5 supporting pages along with a few external backlinks put your page at the #1 SERP position, there will be a day when new players step up & try to take that #1 SERP position away from you. Your 10 supporting pages just creates more work for the competition, they might see your serious & walk away from the keyword. A lot of people in IM are lazy, take advantage of that & build a solid tightly themed group of supporting pages to help hold your SERP position.

My point here is, get ranked, then top it off with a little extra work (supporting pages, quality external links), think long term, a little work now creates less work later.

Keep in mind it's all about the competition, If some webmaster is ranking #1 in the SERPs for a very profitable keyword, I guarantee they will be watching everyone on page #1 & probably page #2 in the SERPs to see If anyone is moving up the SERP ladder fast. Nobody wants to lose a #1 SERP position, especially If it's very profitable for them. The competition will keep their guard up, they would be crazy If they didn't. Make them nervous with some authority.

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Yes, those Silo landing pages are your target pages to be ranked. The supporting pages will still rank on their own for longtail keywords (extra traffic/$$). A lot of times you can get those supporting pages to show for the same keyword (double/triple SERP listing depending on competition) with little effort other than they are all themed keyword pages & tightly grouped (silo).

When your setting up WP themes the Category page template is pretty much the easier route to take for the silo landing page IMO. Remember that WP-Category page is a web page just like any other web page on the net, it's up to everyone what they do with it (how they display content, links, etc...).

Yes, keep all the links contained in the individual silo. If you need to link to page XYZ, chances are page XYZ should have been in the same silo to begin with, why link to unrelated pages (other silos)?

Obviously having a link on every single page back to the Index page is a good user experience, there are ways to mask that link & only make it available for human traffic to control link flow.

Example, the nets most popular font site (here) has a large number of links only available to human traffic. Notice on most pages at dafont, they have a lot of category anchor-text links in the header of each page.

Then check the Google Cache (text version), those links don't exist (all the links in the red box + ABC... links). That example is controlled by javascript.

They controlled the links & at the same time created a good user experience.

Just in case anyone doesn't already know, dafont is the most popular font site on the net & ranks #1 in the SERPs for the keyword font.

Exactly, no time constraints on any of this.

That's what I like about silos & mapping out my site structure with yed editor. Things happen all the time that can throw a wrench in your work flow (creating supporting pages, landing pages, external backlinks, etc...), we all have offline lives to work into our schedules (family, etc...).

With silos & yed editor I can create a plan/map of exactly what I need to do today & in the future. So If I have an offline emergancy to deal with & I can't get back to my online work in a week or so, it doesn't matter, I have my yed graph that will visually show me exactly what I need to do. It's also easy to expand in the future.

IMO, it all brings order to the IM chaos.

As far as internal/external backlinks, they both are equal, you need both IMO to let Google know that very related pages link in/out of the silo. Google loves the whole themed keyword thing, you can see that in action on the SERPs (related search phrases).

Would this be possible/profitable or even work for CPA ?

Thanks Alex,

No I don't have Google alerts setup for "silo structure".

Is the link pointing at the Index page inside an article, or is it in the header or footer of the page?

If you are only targeting a single keyword I don't see anything wrong with it. If you decide to expand & create more targeted keyword landing pages I would reconsider how you handle global links. For example a privacy policy link on every single page can be wrapped in an iframe in the footer. The traffic will see the link as a normal hyperlink, Google will not count the link as diluting the page, you can verify that iframe comment on a Google Cache text only page, the content of the iframe won't show on the cache page.

Hey brittlesnc,

Sorry about that, sometimes I get carried away & start rattling off about stuff assuming everyone has already done these things.

Sometimes I'll be talking about IM things to my wife, I'll be steady talking & look up & she'll have that look "What in the world are you talking about?" lol.

To answer your question, yes, I'll include details on masking links. Thanks for pointing that out.

I'm not sure I follow that first question (risk to many ranked pages).

The landing page is the target page to rank for your best keyword in that silo. By best I mean best targeted traffic for that silo root keyword, example, stop dog barking. Targeted traffic equals more money in your pocket at the end of the day.

Yes, the supporting pages will also rank on their own in two ways. The supporting pages a lot of times (especially on very low competition keywords) create double/triple SERP listings below the silo landing page in the SERPs for the landing page keyword. That's just a huge bonus (extra traffic) & you know for a fact that keyword has reached real authority in the SERPs.

Google doesn't hand out double/triple SERP listings for a single keyword to just any old site. Google allows double/triple SERP listings when they find a site that has multiple interlinked 100% related web pages that are very focused on the keyword. That also depends on competition, you won't see everyone on the first page with double/triple listings, it's just not going to happen.

The second way the supporting pages rank are individually per longtail keywords, you'll defiantly pick up traffic with each individual page in the silo, both landing page & supporting pages. So don't think that the supporting pages won't bring in extra traffic, because they will. Also, those supporting pages need to be very focused on the landing page keyword but not in a spammy way, you want to pick up the longtail traffic, so stay on topic with related keywords.

Don't think of supporting pages as just work, look at them as free traffic.

Backlinks, don't only build backlinks pointing at the landing page, that's not a good idea. Every single page in the silo needs external backlinks pointing at them.

Don't panic...

My rule of thumb is to split 50/50 on the external backlinks, that's just a rough estimate, don't start counting links. Example, I'll point roughly 50% of the backlinks at the silo landing page & the other 50% divided between the silo supporting pages.

Keep in mind you need to track every single pages traffic (Google Analytics, etc...), If you see a supporting page pulling in a lot of SERP traffic for a longtail keyword, that's your signal to reevaluate that longtail keyword & take action to keep that page at the top of the SERPs for that longtail keyword.

Supporting pages are good for several reasons, I've already listed two. Another good thing about supporting pages is like I mentioned above. You can use supporting pages in your silo to fish for related traffic in the SERPs & support a silo landing page at the same time.

My suggestion is, If you know the keyword is very very low competition then build at least 5 supporting pages, get the landing page ranked #1 in the SERPs. If that #1 SERP position over delivers on traffic for what you expected then bulk up on additional supporting pages & external backlinks (50/50). Make that landing page rock solid in the SERPs so it doesn't drop so easy when new competition starts targeting the keyword, because it will happen sooner or later.

Yes logic says link If it's related, If it's 100% related it should be in the same silo.

If you absolutely need to cross link into another silo, I would link to that 2nd silos landing page only. That 2nd silo is your strongest authority page in the silo. You don't want to mix silo supporting pages with each other, then you start creating chaos within each silo & diluting everything (like a regular blog ).

I use a plugin that removes the default .../category/... from the URL.

WordPress › WP No Category Base « WordPress Plugins

Install the plugin & it will fix that problem.

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If you use this on an existing older site that has ranked pages in the SERPs, you will need to 301 redirect the old URL to the new URL.

If it's a new site with no ranked pages you don't need to worry about any 301 redirects.

No, I don't NOINDEX Category pages.

If your creating a silo theme, I would make the typical WP-Tag hyperlink on a blog post either plain text (no hyperlink) & point the tag page directly at the blog post (use the WP-Tag page as a one-way support page), or just skip the WP-Tag page altogether.

His flow chart is only considering Google SERPs, my flow chart is built for human traffic & the SERPs.

Why build a site only for the SERPs? If human traffic can't navigate the site they'll bounce.

The whole point of ranking a page in the SERPs is for human traffic, doesn't serve much purpose If they bounce because they can't find navigation links.

Of course the good 'ol WF has a great post on this topic.
I have been educating all about the net and I have two questions with siloing.

One is that I see different linking structures and I imagine a silo page performing two tasks.. to pass PR up the silo to the silo index page, to pass PR to the main domain index page.

Now I was not considering having all of the silo member pages linked on every silo page. I was just going to pass like a closed linkwheel down the silo, one linking to the next, and the end silo page linking back to the top.

I have read that some webmasters link the last silo member to the index of the next silo but that defeats the purpose to me.

I never thought about all silo pages (in a silo) on each ember page.
What is your take on this guys?

I see a silo page as another entry point to the page, so I imagine having each silo member linking to the home page, also passing link juice to the home as well.

Geeze this is long-winded, my other question I have is where to find your top silo keywords?

Currently I am using Google KW tool and sorting my exact-local searches. Is Google giving me the related KW or is there a better tool?

Google contextual also groups them into related batches, but I am wondering what is the best related keyword discovery tool for this purpose?

WJ

Hey there. You need Thesis or Headway themes to do this. You can set the category page as you like (if you want the category page to actually have real unique content on it...to make it look like a post). Clickbump can also do this.

So I did a little bit of digging on this topic and came across two solutions, maybe. The first is a plugin called "category redirect to post or page." I haven't played with it much, but it sounds like a decent idea except that you might wind up with dupe content.

The second is to modify your category.php file.

Here's what I did:
I replaced the code that usually serves up all the posts with code that looks at what category you're requesting and then serves up a specific post instead.

That got content on the category page, but I didn't have a way to navigate. Turns out there are widgets that will display on posts in the same category as the one you're viewing. Problem solved.

There are still dupe content problems that I haven't figured out how to get around. First, I can't figure out how to change the permalinks in the theme I'm using. Ideally, I would swap all permalinks to link to whatever page the viewer is currently on. Because I have no categories anymore and because my index page only displays one post, the current page is always the permalink.

If I can figure out how to do that, I'm 99% of the way there. The only other bug I'm aware of has to do with my main content page. If I place it in its own category, I wind up with an extra navigation link that produces dupe content. If I place it in one of the other categories, the same problem. I bet I can modify the widget to not display that category, which would solve the problem.

Whether all these mods are smart or stupid, I'm not really sure. Yukon, you're still reading this thread, I'd appreciate any feedback you might have.

Edit2: Because I don't like sitting around, I set up 301 redirects for each of the permalinks that would cause a problem in my schema (that would be each post that is actually a category). Again, not sure if stupid or smart, but I figure that I can always finish the modificaitons properly and then not need the 301s.

Just a note, I'll be coding a perfect silo-ed (as per Yukon's instructions), SEO-d theme for Blogspot, and I'll share it for free to anyone who joins the WSO project of Packerfan here. I am in no way, shape or form affiliated with him, but when I saw that people can still post honest sales pitches which only promise hard work, I decided to help out (for people that don't have the thesis Theme).

Disagree it's 1,2,3 no problem sheesh I just never thought of spreading around the pr throughout the silo. I think of it like a linkwheel.

I suppose having it all linking on all silo'd pages will be fine. I want to leak the PR from each page to the home page, tempting and might do it....

I just set up my first authority site using Thesis. Kinda follow a similar structure to what's been described in this thread. You need to play around with custom code a bit, but it's definitely doable and the site looks ****ing awesome! So excited!

That's a good question & it totally depends on what your monetizing the site with. For example, If I remember correct the Google pdf for Adsense that was leaked mentioned something about turning on/off javascript, when a manual review was being done.

Javascript is the best way to control link flow on a page, however I strongly suggest that you don't use javascript to create links to any pages that are required by the Adsense TOS (Privacy Policy page, etc...).

For pages like the Privacy Policy that are required by the Adsense TOS I would simply do a NOFOLLOW on the link. The NOFOLLOW tag sucks as far as controlling PR leaks, but it's about the best you can do. I would also do a NOINDEX on the actual Privacy Policy page & similar page types.

I would add those types of pages to a Wordpress Page (not post), since they don't really need a category or a feed for those page types.

Hi Guys, hope you don't mind me butting in here. I have just finished building the first stage of my second large 'silo' website and I thought I'd share what I do for these types of pages.

I put my 'Contact Us', 'Privacy Policy', 'Terms of Use' and 'About Us' pages in a pop-up lightbox. They are all comprised of images. I make a temporary webpage for each of them and then take screen captures of each page. I then format them in Photoshop. They end up looking exactly the same as the website text and the only way people would know it's not html text is if they try to Copy and Paste.

It's a bit more work but this way I can keep all my silos in-tact and still have all these essential pages available.

I noticed your running the Thesis WP-theme, I'm not sure what that theme can do as far as a WP-Category page.

The silo theme I'm working on now is setup so that I can write a 100% unique article directly on the WP-Category page, it's not a blog Post, it's not a WP-Page, it's not a redirect of any kind, it's an actual WP-Category Page. I create my WP-Category article directly inside the WP-Category Admin page. I have this WP-Category Article code already up & running & tested, works great.

When you land on my themes WP-Category page you would think your looking at a regular blog Post, instead it's an actual Category page. Then I link out from that Category Article page to all the WP blog Post inside that Category.

Notice the example below, that would be my WP-Category page/article, the links below the Category Article are all the WP-Post inside that same Category.

This example below would be my silo landing page (Category page).







The Index page would contain links pointing at all my WP-Categories (landing pages). What you do with your Index page really is all about the WP-theme & will take some custom WP code. I link to my Categories on the Index page like most blogs link to their recent WP-Post.

I don't link to any WP-Post from the Index page, only Categories, well that & my Privacy Policy etc... You can still fill the page up with content in the sidebars & footer, you just have to be creative in how you display the content (javascript, etc...).

Depends how many pages you have in the Category. I use the category page to summarize each individual WP-Post page with a single paragraph per WP-Post, in that same category.

I do suggest you keep everything on the Category article/page 100% unique, otherwise you'll have pages ending up in supplemental SERPs because of duplicate pages.

Here's how I build silo structures with wordpress:

1) Scategory Permalinks Plugin - this plugin allows you to easily build your site with a silo structure in the yoursite.com/category/postname format. So if you were running iphoneaccessories.com and were looking to optimize for "iphone covers" you would just create that category and then assign it as the "primary" category via scategory permalinks when creating the post.

The primary category is what gets built into the url. So if you have a blue hardshell cover from siefer and create the post you might assign it to the iphone accessories, iphone covers, siefer products, and siefer iphone covers categories but the main purpose of the post is to strengthen your silo category page for "iphone covers". So when building the post you select all those cateogries and then set "iphone covers" as the primary. The structure would then be iphoneaccessories.com/iphone-covers/blue-siefer-hardcase-iphone-cover/

2) Build Custom Category Silo Pages - I hate the category pages which Wordpress builds. They are not flexible or easy to customize. So I build a custom page with a custom template which allows me to type my intro content as normal but I then assign a few variables to custom fields (like the category #) and when the page is published it displays the intro content like a page but it also runs a list of the most recent posts in blog-style format below it.

I only have it display the 7 Newest Posts in the category and then there is a link to a full index (also a custom designed page) which lists all the items in that category in alphabetical order (instead of order of publication) with pagination at the bottom.

In order to avoid any duplicate content issues, I build all posts with a custom excerpt. The main silo pages (with the 7 newest posts) display the initial 350 characters of the post using the_content() and then the alphabetical index pages display the blurb using the_excerpt(). This way not only is the what is shown on the main silo category page different in order from what is shown on the index page, it's also completely different because the content displayed is different.

3) Redirect Category URLS - Once everything is set to go, I 301 Redirect the Category URLs to the main Silo page that I'm working to rank.

It would be like this:

Example Silo-1:
) Index page keyword = Dog
) Category page keyword = Stop dog barking
) Blog post (supporting page) keyword = Stop dog barking at night

Example Silo-2:
) Index page keyword = Dog
) Category page keyword = Dog food
) Blog post (supporting page) keyword = Best dog food for older dogs

Example Silo-3:
) Index page keyword = Dog
) Category page keyword = Dog kennels
) Blog post (supporting page) keyword = Dog kennels for large dogs

Notice the keyword patterns per silo, the index page keyword stays the same since it's the root keyword/page.

If your building a small site, sure, go for it.

An html silo is pretty much the same, only you can use folders, it's basic site structure.

Creating a silo with wordpress is a virtual silo considering we don't structure the site with folders like an html site. All the silos on a WP theme are created with on-page hyperlinks.

I wouldn't recommend creating large silo sites with html, it would be a lot of long term work.

What's nice about WP & a virtual silo is, you can edit the theme template files to do all the work for you.

Still, If you have a small site, a standard silo would be ok to build.

To answer your question, they both (html & WP-theme) can return the same or very similar html code when viewing the sites source code in a browser.

Yes, I edit the Category/Silo landing page to look the same as a regular blog post.

I don't do any 301 redirects like most people do, that's not necessary IMO.

I do run custom WP-Category code on my new theme I'm still working on.

I've never seen the theme so I can't say how much work it would be to convert the theme to a silo theme.

yukon, what do you think about menus? dofollow or nofollow?

assuming that the menu is:

Home | Silo 1 | Silo 2 | Silo 3 | Silo 4 | Terms and Contact (nofollow&noindex)



I'm using at the end of the text the following structure:


See more about <a>main silo keyword</a>
<a>sub-page 1</a>
<a>sub-page 2</a>
<a>sub-page 4</a>

thankyou!

I use my own themes.

First I'm not getting into a pissing match, but I will respond to your comment above.

These are example page titles, don't get so hung up on being negative & nitpicking. It's not keyword stuffing, it's called filler text. Would it make you feel better If we used Lorem Ipsum as filler text/titles?


Lol, dream on, ha, ha.

That's the attitude about default WP themes I like, my competition thinks the same way. The rest of us appreciate the lack of understanding on-page SEO.


The comment about WP-Tags tells me instantly that you don't know what your talking about. I've seen enough.

Thanks for the amusing comment.

if supporting pages can link to landing pages, why can't landing pages link to each other?

Actually it's more about creating multiple authority pages for multiple keywords.

You could NOINDEX an Index page & still rank the rest of the pages on the site. The Index page is just another web page, a page is a page, just depends on what you want to do with the page. Just saying.

The reason most Index pages usually have stronger authority than the rest of the internal pages is simply that most sites link back to the Index page via header/footer links across the entire site.

This is why I tell people to not get so hung up on EMDs, really who trys to rank a single keyword per site?

You can control link flow with a few things like javascript, iframes, etc..., you just have to be careful with whatever your monetizing the site with (Adsense, etc...) & use some common sense so that your not violating their TOS If they happen to do a manual site review.

Since I started out on using the silo structure on my websites, I have treated each separate silo as its own website. And that is about as simple an explanation I can really get.

Each silo is on a specific subject; there is the main page, and then a bunch of "supporting" pages that go with it ( in this case, pages are actually posts since I use a WP theme that allows me to silo my site without leaking it ).

None of the other sections link to each other at all.

-- Jeff

Yeah check out this site: Safavieh Rugs - Safavieh Furniture & Area Rugs - SafaviehRugs.net

Thanks Mark,

The yED graph editor software does help a lot, it's also easy to work with (drag & drop).

I've used the software to help map out my sites pages before the pages are even built.

No you don't need to have it with the category attached to it. I don't, and my silo structure seems to work just fine. ( www.sitename.com/pagename )

-- Jeff

I use the WP Categories because it helps keep the entire site structure themed.

Example:

• hxxp://domain.com/
• hxxp://domain.com/mustang-car-parts/
• hxxp://domain.com/mustang-car-parts/ford-mustang-alternator-repair-kit/

I also only nest the pages/URLs one supporting page deep (like above), you don't want a URL that is a mile long.

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That's a good point, I've suggested before in this thread or maybe another (I can't keep up ) to include the links in the article footer. This can be automated with WP code (shortcodes) just takes some upfront work on the theme.

With subjects that broad I would make each root keyword a seperate sub-domain, each sub-domain would act as it's own site.

Examples:

• hxxp://.about.com/
• hxxp://.about.com/
• hxxp://.about.com/
• hxxp://.about.com/

Google will look at each sub-domain like a separate site, example:

site:financialplan.about.com - Google Search

I'm not sure I follow you on the folders, unless it's an html site?

IMO the thing that matters most is you keep the entire site themed on the same subject, it just makes everything easier as far as SEO, & traffic. Example, traffic looking for weight loss products most likely won't care about other pages on the site If they are related to auto insurance.

If you have to have such broad topics, I would go with a simple sub-domain, again each sub-domain would be it's own niche/keywords.

I'm new to the silo strategy. My plan is to link new articles within a silo to the articles above, with the only link to that article from the top sub-topic page in that silo. Please see my flowchart and let me know if this will work.

3 to 4,000 unique's a day is fantastic. Do you monetize this site at all?

And what are you trying to achieve with this? Send more link juice/authority to those pages (if so, which ones?) or something else?

I'm just trying to understand your question tbh.

I think you can do this with the Seo Ultimate plugin. Just make sure to choose the option that removes the category base and set it to give more authority to pages than to categories. Then you create the page with the same name of the category.

As far as I know, a Silo is a Silo, hence, a category landing page which has several sub-caterory pages (or post) to reinforce its theme.

By the way, thanks a lot for your answers on this thread Yukon, I've learned a lot from you

The screenshot is simply nesting a little deeper than what I do. I keep it simple like this:

• Index page
  • Category page
    • Supporting page
    • Supporting page
    • Supporting page
    • Supporting page
    • Supporting page
    • Supporting page
    • Supporting page
    • Supporting page
    • Supporting page
    • Supporting page

I agree in many ways, this is enough to give me a headache with all the other stuff I can think of. I would personally only use such a structure on a small tightly grouped site of around 40 pages, anything bigger, well unless you have the time to sit around and think about internal linking, if you have a site like Huffington Post then it's a different matter but do they even care?

I just link up as I go stuffing as many links that it's not too overwelming to the last few posts and possibly a few here or there to a few pages I feel are bit more valuable or I'm trying to promote (more competitive). Working well so far.

Looks the same to me. Just a couple more category pages.

The only difference is the larger image has additional sub-categories nested below the 1st landing page. I guess I should have drawn the link flow arrows off to the side like I did the 1st image. Link flow is still the same. I don't advise that you nest the sub-categories too deep, unless you absolutely have to, makes for a bad user experience when the URL is a mile long & multiple sub-categories under a single main category.

That's already been answered on the 2nd page of this thread.

1) It's not just about adding links to web pages, it's also about not having unrelated links on those same pages. If you had an automotive parts website you wouldn't want to be selling pistons on a web page that's main purpose was to sell car stereo's. Most people that run blogs just slap anything & everything on a page (links/text) in the header, sidebar, footer, etc... which isn't focused.

2) You remove the links that aren't focused like in #1 above.

3) Yes, the Index page is the Home page. Link to Silo landing pages (main Category pages). Supporting pages support the Silo landing page, the Silo landing pages support the Index/Home page.

4) That's up to each individual person/webmaster, you have to code the page to make the finished HTML do whatever you want it to do.

5) The yellow pages in the diagram are supporting pages, the green is the Silo landing page (main category page). I only use WP-Post because that's how I setup my WP-themes (my preference) the end results for both WP-Post & WP-Pages are all HTML. Google reads HTML, they don't care about what WP calls a web page.

Related silo category main page forum thread.

If your already ranking pages, be careful what you change on the site/pages. Hyperlinks, URLs, & text are what rank pages, don't go in & overhaul a sites structure (especially URLs) If your not sure about what your doing. If it's a new site & not already ranking, you can tweak the site structure all day long until you have the site setup like you want.

Yukon,

Or anyone who can help me with another question please. I've got a design for a sight which is a silo. It consists of a main page, four category landing pages and four to seven posts in each category page. There is no cross linking so its a perfect silo.

There are a couple of no follow links on the footer.

But I was just wondering....

On the main page, there are 52 links. These links go to a page with information about a job and links (anywhere from 1 to 27) to .gov or .edu sites.

Should I be 'nofollowing' these links? Or does it matter because they are on top of the pyramid so to speak. The reason Im asking is because I'm not sure if it will mess up the silo, and that I've heard mixed things about 'nofollow' links. Some say they are fine and others say they burn t he PR of the page they are on because the page doesn't add anything juice-wise.

Anyone who can clear these questions up for me please?

Thanks.

So that's a total of +20 Karribu points, how do I cash these things in?

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Im in no way an expert in the field since im reading up at the moment myself on the slo structures.

But i dont think that they supporting pages have to be a long tail of your main keyword ie. The topic of your mainsilo.

Now i guess it can be a little harder for local business but what i mean is that if your silo was about "Cat grooming" all your sites have to include "cat grooming" it could be a LSI word or whatever like, "how to brush a cat"

If im completly wrong here noone would be more happy then me if i get corrected.

That guy is just full of useless spam ideas, all he's doing is teaching newbies how to build temporary crap. He even admits what he does is crap.

I can't follow your thoughts. For me, the simple way to do silo is to buy the Clickbump theme (not an affiliate)

@Yukon, No, the theme has a built-in way of making silos. It takes a bit of work. But it creates silos. Earlier this years when Google was still scoring PR I used the theme to build a site with silos. The site was two or three months old when Google last scored PR. Even though the site was in its infancy it got scored PR2. I believe it was because of the silos. There are other ways of building silos ([http://]graywolfseo[.]com/seo/how-to-silo-your-website-content/ free website, not affiliate). I have named my method.

Anyone want to answer the question at hand, or at least the first part?

List parent categories on homepage. Parent category ----> Sub-category with a few hundred words and list of posts belonging to the sub-category ----> Post (Links to all other posts in the silo at the bottom of the page).

Also link to Post B in Post A, link to post C in post B etc. once in the body of the text, although I'm not even sure if this is necessary. Is it?

As far as I know SILO is an internal linking structure, where you create one parent page or Landing page and then connect it to its child pages via contextual linking structure.

Eg. I got a laptop Selling landing page, then I make other pages like
Page 1[ Best Ram in Market], {child page linking to Parent page}
Page 2 [best monitors in market], {child page 2 linking to parent page}
Page 3[ Windows 8 laptops], {child page 3 to parent page}

This structure will provide authority and importance to the Parent page.


Why SILO structure got importance from Google?
- Earlier when Google started giving importance to inbound links, people started abusing it by various blackhat and other methods and redirecting them to low PR site with duplicate, spun or no content site.
- Thus to support the falling result standard it gave Importance to SILO which ensures that the website has its own original supported content and connected to another important page, thus giving ranking boost.

But still keywords, niche and other factors are considered. You cannot win a war, just by wearing SILO Helmet.