Your website is your RTO’s online door to the world. While it must be designed with its human users’ interests as a priority, you can’t ignore the role of website design as a Google ranking factor for search engine ranking results.
No matter how visually appealing and informative your RTO website design is, if it’s not visible to the right target audience at the right time, it’s not going to deliver any return on your investment. This is where SEO becomes so important – and website structure is a major criterion for Google ranks and, ultimately, online visibility.
What is SEO?
SEO stands for search engine optimisation. It refers to a wide array of actions applied both on and off your website which increase its visibility when internet users perform specific searches. These actions and practices are designed to improve both the appearance and functionality of your site, as well as to flag your site to Google and work in tandem with Google’s ever-changing algorithm to ensure your site’s pages appear as high as possible in search engine ranks. This actively drives more online traffic to your website and hence your RTO itself.
Why is SEO-Friendly Website Structure So Important?
Many factors contribute to making your website SEO-friendly, and the structure of the site itself is a critical component of this.
An SEO-friendly website structure:
Delivers a User-Friendly On-Page Experience. The visual aspect of your website is important, but even more crucial is how the site feels for the user. Is it organised logically? Is it easy to navigate? Does it trigger click-throughs to deeper landing pages and conversions? The better the user experience on your site, the lower your bounce rate will be, the longer visitors will remain on your site, and the better Google will position your site in search results.
Improves Crawling
Web crawlers are automated by Google to index the content of your website. This is intrinsic to your website displaying in search results. An SEO-friendly website structure facilitates web crawlers to find and index your site and its content. To maximise the effectiveness of this, you must have a sitemap and a robust site structure.
Provides Valuable Site Links
High-quality page links are essential to SEO. Both internal links between your landing pages and external links to other high authority websites will be advantageous in terms of directing your visitors to the most relevant information for them, improving your site’s navigability, and increasing your click-through rate. It will also gain the trust of internet users, and support and enhance your RTO’s brand.
Tips for your Website Structure
Prioritise SEO Keywords and Landing Pages – undertake a keyword analysis to identify the most effective target keywords for your RTO. You must then incorporate these keywords appropriately into specific landing pages to emphasize the content as a priority for crawlers.
Consider the User Experience – improving your site’s user experience is a major aspect of SEO. A simpler site will always get the best results, as long as it delivers in terms of what the visitor needs.
There are several important factors to consider:
Your URL must be consistent throughout all pages of the website, as well as complement your email address.
Build a simple website hierarchy with the most important pages at the forefront, with less important content deeper within the site. Your homepage will be prominent, followed by the most important landing pages. Each landing page should have a drop-down menu into sub-category pages. You’ll also need a blog/articles/news page, as well as contact and payment processing pages.
Every page must be clearly and easily accessible via your home page, and every page must have a clear, direct link back to home.
Use internal page links via your target keywords – this benefits both the user experience and SEO requirements.
Facilitate Web Crawling – a simpler, cleaner website structure won’t just benefit the user experience, but also make it easier for web crawlers to locate, index, and rank your landing pages.
Get Expert Help
Hire a professional web designer/developer with SEO expertise to create a new website for your RTO or to optimise your existing website. Outsourcing to the right provider with this specific knowledge is among the most effective ways to improve your website and its user experience, boost your visibility and clickthrough rate, and generate the highest return on your investment.
Contact RTOWeb for SEO-Friendly Web Design
Is your website structure SEO-friendly?
Does your RTO website design need a revamp?
Would your RTO benefit from a brand new website?
RTOWeb is an Australian website design, development, maintenance, and support provider working with RTOs nationwide. An experienced team of web designers and developers, we understand the VET industry and the unique needs of RTOs, as well as the complexities of SEO requirements. We focus specifically on the RTO niche and we have the techniques and insights to help your RTO grow and succeed online.
Contact us today to discover how we can help you.
