{"id":2279,"date":"2026-08-31T13:57:05","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T13:57:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/internal-links-manager.com\/en\/?page_id=2279"},"modified":"2026-08-31T14:16:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T14:16:34","slug":"silo","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/internal-links-manager.com\/pt\/glossario\/silo\/","title":{"rendered":"Silo"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\u2190 Back to the glossary<\/a>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Silo<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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3 minute read \u00b7 Updated 28 August 2026 \u00b7 Also called siloing, SEO silo<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Definition<\/span>

A silo is a site structure in which pages on one topic liga\u00e7\u00e3o<\/a> densely among themselves and sparsely \u2014 in the strict version, not at all \u2014 to pages on other topics. The goal is a clear thematic boundary a search engine cannot mistake.<\/p>

The idea dates from the early 2000s. Its softer successor, the topic cluster<\/a>, keeps the grouping and drops the prohibition on linking across.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Physical and virtual silos<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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A physical silo<\/strong> is expressed in the URL structure: \/cameras\/lenses\/50mm\/<\/code>. The folder hierarchy mirrors the topic hierarchy.<\/p>

A virtual silo<\/strong> is expressed purely in links, regardless of URLs. Pages are grouped by what links to what, not by where they sit in a folder tree.<\/p>

The second is what actually matters. Search engines follow links, not slashes \u2014 which is also why profundidade de cliques<\/a> and URL depth are different things. A tidy folder structure with no internal links between the pages inside it is not a silo; it is a filing cabinet.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Where the strict version breaks<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Applied literally, siloing forbids a link between two genuinely related pages because somebody once assigned them to different categories. That is a rule serving the diagram rather than the reader.<\/p>

Two costs follow. Useful links go unmade, so pages that would help each other never connect. And the structure becomes brittle: every new page needs a category decision before it can be linked at all, which is exactly the friction that causes p\u00e1ginas \u00f3rf\u00e3s<\/a>.<\/p>

Search engines have also moved on. Topical relevance is inferred from language and context, not only from link boundaries, so the strict separation buys less than it used to.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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What to keep from it<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The core insight is sound and worth keeping: pages about the same thing should link to each other densely.<\/strong> A page with fifteen inbound links from closely related pages sits in an unmistakable context.<\/p>

Drop the prohibition. Link across topics wherever a reader would genuinely benefit \u2014 the cross-links are rare enough that they do not blur anything, and each one is a link that would otherwise not exist.<\/p>

Some plugins offer same-category-only linking as a setting. It is a reasonable default for a large, clearly divided site; it is the wrong default for a small one where nearly everything is related to everything.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Where siloing came from<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The technique was formalised in the early 2000s, when search engines relied far more heavily on link structure and far less on understanding language. If a system infers a page’s subject mainly from what links to it, then keeping link neighbourhoods thematically pure is a rational strategy.<\/p>

That assumption has weakened. Modern retrieval reads the text, the surrounding entities and the query context, so a single cross-topic link no longer muddies anything. What survives is the part that was never about the algorithm: pages on one subject genuinely belong near each other, and readers benefit from that as much as crawlers do.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Silo or cluster \u2014 which to build<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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For nearly every site: the cluster<\/a>. It keeps the grouping, adds an explicit hub, and permits the cross-links that make a site usable.<\/p>

The strict silo still has a place on large catalogues with genuinely separate product worlds \u2014 a retailer selling both industrial fasteners and garden furniture has no reader who wants a link between them. Even there the boundary should be a default rather than a prohibition.<\/p>

The test is simple: if you find yourself not<\/em> making a link that would help the reader, because of the diagram, the diagram is wrong.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Same-category linking as a setting<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Several internal linking tools offer a restriction that links may only be placed between posts in the same category. It is the silo idea reduced to a checkbox, and whether it helps depends entirely on how the categories were assigned.<\/p>

On a site where categories reflect real subject boundaries and every post sits in exactly one, it produces tight, sensible groups. On a site where posts carry four categories each because nobody wanted to choose, it produces near-random restrictions \u2014 blocking useful links while permitting arbitrary ones.<\/p>

Before switching it on, look at how many categories the average post belongs to. Above two, fix the taxonomy first.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Related terms<\/span>