The Information architecture (information architecture in English) describes the structural design of a website or intranet. In this case, these last two are information spaces that allow users to find answers to their questions and find the required information quickly and easily.
General information
The term information architecture is distinguished from the term information design. While design is the visible part of a web page, architecture remains in the background and is only the structural part that directs user interaction. However, before a user can interact, the information must be properly organized. This is done using categories, menus, and click paths to facilitate user access to information. These structural units are visualized by the information design, but as a theoretical concept, the upstream architecture. Only in the design procedure of a web portal will information architecture and design intersect directly.
Practical relevance
The Information architecture describes not only the concept behind an information space (or information exchange environment), but also the procedure of its design. The Information Architect (IA) has to create a concept that puts the users in the spotlight based on your needs and requirements. The architect has at his disposal different materials that he will combine into a whole at the end of the procedure. Use organization charts and wireframes to forge intuitive navigation for users from the rough organization of the main categories of a web portal.
The organization chart (also called a plan or blueprint) assigns subcategories to the main page of a web portal. They are connected with arrows to represent it graphically. The wireframe complements the thick structure now with individual web pages. The main structure remains, but the navigation is more detailed, especially when it comes to larger projects with a lot of content. Depending on whether an information space allows easy and intuitive access, information architecture is sometimes referred to as an art.
In the design of the information space, the corporate identity plays an important role. The web portal always has operational or organizational relevance. The structure and appearance of the menu is supposed to make it easier for users to navigate. A web portal is a division of the company in a sense and represents its principles. If users can easily classify a web portal in this context, identification and interaction will be simpler.
Users can access content more easily if it is familiar to them through a common structure and appearance and identification with the company is achieved. At the same time, it pays off among the competition through information architecture. It is also a unique point of sale and can use data from marketing and market research.
Importance for SEO
Experts refer to two levels of information architecture: large architecture and small architecture. The grand architecture of a web portal is supposed to direct communication with users. The small architecture refers to the handling of the data to prepare it for the search engines. Both levels are extremely important when it comes to search engine optimization. First, you have to create a high-quality web portal and optimize it on one page. [1]
Google's premise that a website should serve users is relevant here. This level includes spoken URLs, easy navigation, meaningful structures, and easily searchable information. Labeling is also part of it. Starting with a starting URL, subcategories can be named in such a way that they represent the range of information and adequately describe it in concise terms. These terms can be chosen with a keyword analysis. The deeper the click path, the more value architects will put on clustering. URLs are named in such a way that a general category it is always complemented by a specific definition.
This is an example of bulk optimization to form semantic clusters:
www.example.com www.example.com/category www. example.com/subcategory
Large architecture is complemented by small architecture. The content is tagged with metadata and structured in a reasonable way for search engines. A user agent, for example a Googlebot, will be notified what data is used and in what way. This includes not only the metadata of an HTML document, but also the actual content. At this point, the information architecture and design go hand in hand, because content formatting and tagging are important aspects of search engine optimization.
At the same time, inbound links are taken into account in the evaluation of a web page. The higher the link juice, the stronger the page typically ranks. Google also takes it into account for the calculation of the page rank. Along with Google, some other analytics tool providers have property values to represent the link popularity of a page. Examples of this are Ryte with OPR or Moz together with MozRank.
Thus, the architect must look at important aspects of search engine optimization in creating an information architecture.
