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Technical SEO Tip: Google DOES NOT use URL structure to determine site hierarchy.

Updated
1 min read
M

Spent over a decade helping organizations thrive through re-platforming, digital analytics, and marketing automation. Now, I’m pivoting to Data Privacy and Governance. I specialize in translating abstract frameworks into actionable practices ensuring growth and protection work in tandem.

A common belief is that Google uses your URL structure to determine the hierarchy of your website. If you're an ecommerce site and had a URL that had /category/subcategory1/subcategory2/ in the URL, Google would use this to determine the site structure.

According to Google's documentation, they shared that:

"Google generally doesn't look at the structure of URLs to work out the structure of a site. Instead, it analyzes the linkages between pages to gain insights about the relative importance of different pages on a site."

https://developers.google.com/search/docs/specialty/ecommerce/help-google-understand-your-ecommerce-site-structure

If you have a best selling product, consider linking to it from the home page or in other content, such as blog posts or newsletters on your site. This will help Google understand how important the product is in relation to your site.