How to Build a Content Silo for Your Local Business Website

A content silo is a structured way of organizing your website so that related pages are grouped together under a clear hierarchy. For local businesses, this structure helps search engines understand exactly what you offer and where you offer it – making it far easier for customers to find you. Without it, your pages compete against each other, confuse crawlers, and dilute the topical authority you need to rank.

This guide walks through each step of building a content silo that improves local search visibility, whether you run a clinic in Nairobi, a restaurant in Lagos, a real estate agency in Cape Town, or any service-based business across Africa.

Step 1: Map Your Services and Locations

Before creating or restructuring a single page, document every service you offer and every location you serve. This map becomes the foundation of your silo structure.

Group related services under logical parent categories. A legal practice might group "property law," "family law," and "employment law" under a parent category of "practice areas." A hotel might group "standard rooms," "conference facilities," and "spa services" under a parent of "amenities." Those parent categories become your silo hubs.

Do the same for geography. List every city, neighborhood, or region where customers actively search for your services. For service-area businesses that travel to the customer, map at the neighborhood or district level where that level of competition exists.

This exercise typically reveals two things: services you are covering inconsistently, and location gaps where you have customers but no dedicated page.

Step 2: Audit What You Already Have

Most businesses already have some content. Before building new pages, assess what exists.

Find Gaps

A gap is a topic or location that should have a dedicated page but does not. A plumbing company in Accra that serves East Legon, Cantonments, and Labone but only has a single generic "service areas" page has gaps at every neighborhood level.

Find Overlapping Pages

Overlap happens when two or more pages target the same keyword. Search engines face an impossible choice about which page to rank, so they often rank neither well. Pages that overlap need to be consolidated into one authoritative page or clearly differentiated by angle and intent before the silo can function properly.

Find Orphaned Pages

An orphaned page has no internal links pointing to it. Search engines rarely discover and index these pages reliably. Flag every orphaned page during the audit – they will need to be connected to the silo structure before they can contribute to rankings.

Consistent local citation data reinforces your location signals across directories, which directly supports the geographic targeting you establish through your silo pages.

Step 3: Define Your Silo Types

A local business website typically uses one or more of three silo types, depending on how the business serves customers.

Service-Based Silos

A service silo groups all content related to a single service under one hub page. The hub covers the service broadly. Supporting pages go deeper into specific aspects – subtypes, procedures, pricing models, common questions, or comparison content.

A dental practice in Johannesburg might build a hub page for "Cosmetic Dentistry" and support it with pages on teeth whitening, veneers, dental bonding, and smile makeovers. Each supporting page targets a specific search query and links back to the hub.

Location-Based Silos

A location silo builds a dedicated section of your site around each area you serve. At the top sits a master locations hub. Below it, individual city or district pages target searches from that area specifically.

Each location page must be genuinely unique. Swapping a city name into a template while keeping identical content does not create a location silo – it creates duplicate content that search engines penalize. Real location pages include local context: area-specific customer concerns, neighborhood references, and links to the relevant service pages on your site.

Combined Service-Location Silos

The most powerful structure for businesses serving multiple services across multiple locations combines both approaches. A physiotherapy clinic serving Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kisumu might build a service silo for "sports injury treatment" and then create location-specific variations of that page for each city.

This requires more content but delivers the clearest signal to search engines about what you do and where you do it.

Step 4: Build Your Hub Pages First

A hub page is the broadest, most authoritative page within a silo. It covers the topic at a high level, links to every supporting page beneath it, and targets the primary keyword for that category.

Do not try to cover every subtopic on the hub – that is the purpose of supporting pages. The hub should answer "what is this service / location and why does it matter to the customer?" clearly and comprehensively. Supporting pages answer the detailed questions beneath that.

On-page local SEO principles apply to hub pages with particular force: the page title, H1, first paragraph, and URL structure should all include the primary keyword you want to rank for in that silo.

Step 5: Create Supporting Pages That Answer Specific Questions

Each supporting page targets one specific query within the broader topic. Think of the questions a prospective customer asks before they decide to call you.

A security company in Lagos might create supporting pages for: "how much does CCTV installation cost in Lagos," "best type of alarm system for commercial properties," and "licensed security companies in Victoria Island." Each page addresses a real query and links back to the hub.

Destinali helps African businesses identify exactly these kinds of high-intent local queries – drawing on visibility data from over 1 million verified businesses across 54 countries and 80+ categories to surface what customers in each market are actually searching for.

Supporting pages should be substantive enough to stand alone as useful resources. Thin pages – those with fewer than 400 words and no original depth – add noise to your site without adding authority. If a subtopic is not substantial enough to justify its own page, cover it within the hub instead.

Step 6: Implement Internal Linking Deliberately

Internal links are what transform a collection of individual pages into a functioning silo. Without them, the structure exists only as a concept – search engines cannot detect it.

Follow this linking pattern:

1. Every supporting page links to its hub page
2. The hub page links to every supporting page beneath it
3. Supporting pages within the same silo link to each other where topically relevant
4. Hub pages link to hub pages in related silos where the connection is natural

Do not link across silos randomly. A link from your "restaurant catering" silo to your "private dining" silo makes sense. A link from your "catering" silo to your "parking" page does not.

Anchor text should describe the destination page's content in 2–5 words. Generic anchor text like "click here" or "read more" passes no topical signal. Descriptive anchor text – "outdoor catering in Abuja" or "Lagos dental implant costs" – reinforces the keyword context of both the linking page and the destination.

Strong local backlink profiles amplify the authority that your internal linking structure distributes – external signals and on-site structure work together, not independently.

Step 7: Maintain and Expand the Silo Over Time

A content silo is not a one-time project. Search intent shifts, new services emerge, and competitors publish new content. A silo built once and then left alone gradually loses relevance.

Schedule a quarterly review that covers three things: content performance (which pages are gaining or losing traffic), new supporting page opportunities (questions customers are now asking that have no page), and internal linking gaps (new pages that have not been connected to the structure properly).

Add one or two supporting pages per silo per quarter rather than publishing in large bursts. Sustained, consistent publishing signals ongoing topical expertise to search engines more effectively than periodic bulk production.

Avoid expanding into too many silos simultaneously. Two or three well-maintained silos outperform six underdeveloped ones. Focus depth before breadth.

FAQ

What Is a Content Silo in Local SEO?

A content silo is a structured grouping of related website pages organized around a central topic or service, with a main hub page at the top and supporting pages beneath it connected by internal links. In local SEO, silos are typically built around services, geographic areas, or both, helping search engines identify a business as authoritative and relevant for specific queries in specific locations.

How Many Silos Should a Local Business Build?

Most small and medium businesses should start with two to three silos covering their most important services or locations. Starting with more silos than you can maintain leads to thin, underperforming content. Build depth in a smaller number of silos before expanding – a silo with eight strong, well-linked supporting pages outperforms three silos with two pages each.

Do Location Pages Count as a Content Silo?

A single location page is not a silo. A location silo is a full set of pages built around a geographic area: a hub page for the city, supporting pages for specific services in that city, and blog or FAQ content targeting localized queries. The pages are connected through internal links and collectively optimized for that location.

Can a Small Business Do This Without an SEO Agency?

Yes. The process requires planning and consistent effort, but it does not require technical expertise beyond basic CMS access. Start by mapping your services and locations on a spreadsheet, identify your two most important service categories, build hub pages for each, and add one supporting page per month. Progress compounds over time.

How Long Does a Content Silo Take to Produce Results?

Most local businesses see measurable ranking improvements within three to six months of launching a well-structured silo. Location-based silos targeting competitive cities can take six to twelve months to gain full traction. The timeline depends on your domain's existing authority, the competitiveness of your market, and how consistently you add supporting content.

What Is the Difference Between a Content Silo and a Blog Category?

A blog category organizes posts thematically for readers but does not by itself create a strong topical signal for search engines. A content silo is a deliberate SEO structure: it includes hub pages optimized for primary keywords, supporting pages targeting specific subtopics, and intentional internal linking that distributes authority across the structure. Categories are organizational tools; silos are ranking architecture.

Does a Content Silo Help With AI Search Visibility?

Yes. AI-powered search tools favor structured, topically coherent content when generating answers. A well-built silo demonstrates concentrated expertise on a subject, which increases the likelihood that AI systems cite your business or content when answering queries in your category. Structure that works for traditional search engines also works for AI search platforms.

What to Do Now

1. Open a spreadsheet and list every service and location your business covers
2. Identify your two most important services – those become your first two silo hubs
3. Write or update the hub page for each, targeting the primary keyword clearly
4. List five supporting page topics per hub and publish the first one this week
5. Add internal links from every existing relevant page to your new hub pages
6. Set a quarterly review date to assess performance and add new supporting pages

African businesses that build consistent, structured web presence get found by more customers across more platforms and that visibility compounds over time. You can create a free business listing on Destinali to establish the foundational local presence your silo content is designed to support.