Glossary
Semantic Silo
A group of pages tightly interlinked around one theme (typically a hub, pillar pages and spoke pages) that concentrates topical relevance and internal link equity on the subject.
In plain terms
A group of pages tightly linked around a single theme, usually a hub that introduces the subject, pillar pages for its main parts, and spokes answering individual questions. The internal links stay inside the group, so relevance concentrates rather than leaking across unrelated pages.
The structure is as much for readers as for search engines: somebody who arrives on a spoke can find the broader page, and somebody on the hub can reach the detail.
Why it matters in Kenya
This site is built that way, which is why every service page links down to its specialisms and up to the overview, and why location and industry pages link to the services that do the work rather than describing it again.
What to do about it
Four checks you can run on your own site this week.
- Decide the hub, the pillars and the spokes before writing anything
- Link spokes up to their pillar and across to siblings, not randomly
- Keep one query per URL so pages in the silo do not compete
- Avoid linking out of the silo from inside it unless the reader genuinely needs it
More terms
Other words you will meet when commissioning web, e-commerce or search work in Kenya.
- Pillar PageA page that summarises a broad topic and links down to detailed spoke pages.
- Spoke PageA page that answers one specific head query in depth, links up to its pillar and across to sibling spokes.
- Entity OptimisationMaking a business unambiguously identifiable to search and AI systems as a single entity, through a consistent name, address and phone number, a connected schema graph, and a well-populated sameAs array.
