What Is Silo SEO? Types, Benefits & Building an Effective Silo Strategy

Most websites don't have a content problem. They have a layout problem. The pages are fine, but nobody can tell how they connect. Google can't tell either.

That is the gap silo SEO tries to close. It groups your pages by topic so visitors and search engines can follow a clear path through your site. If you sell SEO services, run a digital marketing agency, or publish a lot of blog posts, a tidy structure can help every page pull its weight.

But silo SEO has loud critics. Ahrefs calls strict siloing a bad idea, and Semrush says it can limit how well your site performs. So who is right? A bit of both. In this guide you'll learn what silo SEO is, the three main types, the real benefits, and how to build a silo strategy that works without the usual traps.

What Is Silo SEO?

Silo SEO is a way to organize your website so pages on the same topic sit together and link to each other. Each group is called a silo. Ahrefs describes the classic version as grouping, isolating and interlinking content on one topic, so that a page in one silo does not link out to a page in another.

Think about a library. Cooking books are on one shelf and travel books are on another. You don't need a guide to find a pasta recipe. A silo does the same job for your website.

Here is a simple example. Say your agency site covers SEO, paid ads and video. You would build three silos. The SEO silo holds your main SEO services page, plus supporting pages on technical SEO, local SEO and link building. The paid ads silo holds your PPC services pages. The video silo holds your video services pages. JetOctopus uses almost the same example: a main page on SEO Services, backed by pages on technical SEO, on-page SEO and link building.

Most silos follow a hub and spoke shape, according to SEO-Day. One main page (the hub) sits at the top and several supporting pages hang off it.

How Silo SEO Works?

A silo has three moving parts.

The hub page: A broad page that targets the main topic, like "SEO Services". It gives the big picture and points to every supporting page.

Supporting pages: Narrower pages that go deep on one subtopic each, like "technical SEO audit" or "local SEO for dentists".

Internal links: The hub links down to each supporting page. Each supporting page links back up to the hub. Related supporting pages link to each other.

Why does this help? Semrush explains that a crawler lands on one page and then follows its links to learn what the page and the whole site are about. Ahrefs adds that internal links move PageRank around your site. If one page in a silo earns strong backlinks, some of that value reaches its neighbors through links.

Links also give context. Ahrefs quotes Google's John Mueller saying that internal links, and the anchor text used in them, help Google understand what a page is about. So a link that says "technical SEO audit" tells more than a link that says "click here".

Types of Silo Structures

This lists three types of silos. Lowfruits and Hall explain the first two clearly, so let's start there.

1. Physical silo

A physical silo shows up in your URLs. The folders tell you where you are. For example, yoursite.com/seo-services/technical-seo/ sits inside the SEO services folder. Hall gives a similar example with a nutrition folder that holds protein and vitamin pages.

2. Virtual silo

A virtual silo is built with internal links and navigation, not URL folders. Your URLs can stay flat, like yoursite.com/technical-seo/, but the links still group pages by topic. This is handy when changing URLs would be risky or expensive.

3. Hybrid silo

A hybrid silo uses both. Pages live in topic folders and the internal links back it up. For most business sites, this is the setup that makes the most sense.

There is one more split worth knowing. A strict silo allows no links between silos. A flexible silo allows them when they truly help the reader. We will come back to this, because it is where most of the debate sits.

Benefits of Silo SEO

Ahrefs is careful to call these the "perceived" benefits, and some of them come from good internal linking in general, not from silos alone. Still, a clear topic structure gives you real advantages.

Easier crawling and indexing: Consistent internal links help Google find your pages, as Ahrefs points out. A silo also makes orphan pages (pages with no links pointing to them) less likely.

Stronger topical relevance: Semrush says that covering a topic in depth, inside one section, helps build topical authority. Links between closely related pages also tend to use relevant anchor text.

Better flow of link value: Backlinks bring authority into your site and internal links spread it around. A silo keeps that flow focused on pages that belong together.

A better visitor experience: People who land on a page about video services can reach your video pricing, examples and FAQs in one or two clicks. Ahrefs and Semrush both list this as a benefit.

Less keyword cannibalization: JetOctopus notes that a planned keyword structure helps stop two pages from fighting over the same search. When each page has its own job, that is easier to avoid.

Simple growth and reporting: It says a good silo is easy to expand. SEO-Day suggests tracking traffic, rankings and engagement per silo, which makes it easy to see which topic is working.

Strict Silos vs Topic Clusters: What the Experts Say?

This is the part most guides rush past, so let's slow down.

Ahrefs argues that banning links between silos hurts both users and SEO. Their example is a gym site. If an instructor teaches Pilates at the New York studio, it makes sense to link her profile, the class and the studio together, even if they sit in different silos. Once you do that, Ahrefs says, you are no longer siloing. You are using a normal pyramid structure, which they say is what Mueller recommends too.

Semrush lands in a similar place. Their view is that a silo-style structure works only if you loosen the rules and let silos link to each other, the way topic clusters do. Topic clusters are the same idea as silos, with one big difference: you are free to link between them.

On the other side, JetOctopus says strict isolation is the whole point, because cross-silo links spread out the topical focus you are trying to build. SEO-Day takes a middle road and suggests keeping around 80% of links inside the silo, while warning that too many cross-silo links weaken it.

So what should you do? Our take: use silos to plan your site, but don't treat them as walls. Keep most links inside the topic. Add a link across silos when a real person reading that page would want it. That 80% figure is a handy rule of thumb from SEO-Day, not a Google rule, so use your judgment.

How to Build an Effective Silo Strategy:

Here is a step by step process you can follow. We will use a digital marketing agency website as the example.

Step 1: List your core topics

Start with what you sell or what you want to be known for. For an agency, that might be SEO services, PPC services, video services and growth optimization. Each one becomes a silo. If you can't explain a silo in one short sentence, it is probably two silos.

Step 2: Research keywords and group them by intent

Use a tool like Semrush or Ahrefs to find keywords for each topic. Then group them by what the searcher wants. Semrush recommends giving each page a keyword cluster, not a single keyword, so a page can rank for a wider set of related searches.

Step 3: Pick one hub page per silo

The hub should be a proper page with real content, not a bare list of links. It should answer the main question about the topic and guide people to the deeper pages.

Step 4: Map the supporting pages

Write down every supporting page you have and every one you still need. Look for gaps. If you have a page on technical SEO but nothing on SEO audits, that is a gap. Here is how the map could look for an agency.

If you run an SEO company in India and serve clients in other countries, you may want location pages too. Keep them inside the SEO silo, for example /seo-services/usa/, so they support the main page instead of competing with it. Only build one if you can write something useful for that market. Thin copy-paste location pages do more harm than good.

Step 5: Set clean URLs and navigation

Use short, descriptive URLs with hyphens between words, as Semrush suggests. Put your hub pages in the main menu, which SEO-Day also recommends, and add breadcrumbs (like Home > SEO Services > Technical SEO) so visitors always know where they are. Google's SEO Starter Guide, as Semrush notes, asks for a naturally flowing hierarchy where pages can be reached through links.

Step 6: Plan your internal links

Use this simple rulebook.

For example, a video SEO page can link to your main SEO services hub, since the topics overlap. A PPC landing page guide can link to your growth optimization silo, because testing pages is part of that work. Those links are useful, so they earn their place.

Step 7: Keep important pages close to the surface

Semrush flags pages that sit more than three clicks from the homepage as a possible sign that the page is not important. Ahrefs adds that Google may give deep pages lower crawl priority. So avoid stacking five layers of folders. Hub, then supporting page is often enough.

Step 8: Audit regularly

A silo is not a one-time job. Every few months, check for broken links, orphan pages, pages with too many links, and pages that are buried too deep. Semrush lists these exact problems as the ones to fix, and its Site Audit tool has an internal linking report for them. Screaming Frog is another common option.

Common Silo SEO Mistakes to Avoid

• Being too rigid: Blocking helpful links between topics is the most common complaint from Ahrefs and Semrush. Build silos for planning, not as walls.
• Leaving orphan pages: Semrush warns that pages with no internal links are hard for users and crawlers to find and can struggle in search results.
• Building silos around your org chart: Your team might be split into departments, but people search by problem. Group pages the way customers think.
• Letting pages overlap: If two pages target the same search, merge them or give each a clear different purpose.
• Changing URLs without redirects: If you move to physical silos, set up 301 redirects from the old URLs so you don't lose existing rankings and backlinks.
• Creating thin hub pages: A hub that is just a list of links gives people no reason to stay and gives Google little to rank.
• Copying a structure without checking data: JetOctopus makes a fair point that silos work best when the structure is backed by data, not guesses.

How to Measure Whether Your Silos Are Working?

SEO-Day suggests tracking keyword coverage, user engagement, organic traffic and keyword rankings for each silo. That is a good starting list. In practice:

In Google Search Console, filter the Performance report by URL folder, like "/seo-services/", to see clicks and impressions for one silo.

In your rank tracker, tag keywords by silo so you can see which topic is gaining.

In your site audit tool, watch crawl depth, orphan pages and broken links over time.

In Google Analytics, compare engagement time and conversions by silo, since Semrush notes that user behavior matters for how content performs.

Give changes time. Google has to recrawl your pages before it can react, and no one can promise a fixed timeline.

Silo SEO and AI Search

More people now get answers from AI tools as well as classic search results. Nobody can promise that a certain structure will get you cited. But a clear structure removes guesswork. Yoast says internal linking helps both SEO and GEO, because it shows search systems your topic groups, content depth and hierarchy. A hub with well-linked supporting pages is a good way to show that you cover a subject properly.

When to Bring in Help?

For a site with 20 pages, you can plan silos in an afternoon. For a site with 500 pages, it is a real project. You need keyword mapping, a link plan, redirects and testing. This is where professional SEO services can save a lot of time, because site structure sits at the heart of technical SEO, as Semrush explains.

A good digital marketing agency will also connect structure to the rest of your marketing. Your PPC services need landing pages that fit your topic groups. Your video services can fill supporting pages with useful content. And growth optimization shows which pages turn visitors into customers. Whether you pick a local team or an SEO company in India, ask to see a sample site map and link plan before you sign. It tells you a lot about how they think.

Conclusion:

Silo SEO is really about one idea: put related pages together and make the connections obvious. The strict version, where silos never link to each other, is where most of the criticism comes from. A flexible version keeps the clarity and drops the rigidity.

Start small. Pick two or three core topics, build one hub for each, link the supporting pages sensibly, and check your data after a few months. If you want help planning it, a solid SEO services partner can map the whole thing for you.