Tree structure | Habefast
What is the tree structure? Definition
A numerical tree or site tree allows to distribute and classify data in a hierarchical way. Called a tree in reference to the shape of the tree it resembles, it is the architecture of a site and allows to find the files composing the site listed and ordered. It must allow for easy access for Internet users.
How does a site tree structure work?
It is a hierarchical structure of data in directories and sub-directories.
It works by levels in order to designate the structure and organization of the pages contained on a Web site or on a document storage system such as an intranet.
It consists of a first file called the root file which constitutes the basic unit, the first level.
The Root is made up of files called main branches, which break down into sub-folders, themselves divided into sub-categories.
This classification makes it possible to find the textual or visual elements that make up the site by tracing a path that makes it possible to find the storage location of the files.
To illustrate the tree structure of your computer’s folders, let’s take the example of a search for vacation photos. To find your vacation photos on your computer, the tree structure could be as follows: PC > Desktop > Images > 2021 > summer > July.
You can see the path taken and the division into sections that allows you to list the different folders used to store your files.
What is the purpose of a tree structure?
As we have seen, it is used to organize a site and to format it.
The tree structure of the site is also essential for the natural referencing of a website called SEO.
Since it guides the navigation of users, it must allow a good user experience (limit the number of clicks to find information, navigate easily through a good internal mesh …) to keep them on the site and bring them to make conversions on the site.
In the same way, the tree structure has an influence on the analysis by the crawlers, the robots of the search engines analyzing the pages of the websites. This analysis allows them to determine the importance of a page within a site, which then allows them to reference the pages on the SERPs (search engine results). That’s why it is essential to have a good hierarchy of folders and information: the most important pages are close to the root of the tree. This allows them to be better referenced than the pages further away from the root, which are considered less important.