Click depth refers to the number of clicks required to reach a page from the homepage. For example:

• Any pages linked on the homepage have a depth value of 1
• Any links 1 page away will have a value of 2
• Any links on 2 pages away will be a 3, and so on

Your important content should be within three clicks from the homepage. Any more than this, and it becomes increasingly difficult for both users and robots to locate the page.

The claim is that pages with lower click depth values tend to rank better in search results. Users typically want to access subpages easily, with as few links as possible. If a subpage requires five or more clicks, users may leave your website.

Click depth, things to consider

You can use a tool called Screaming Frog to review your click depth (called Crawl Depth by Screaming Frog). You can view the number of ‘clicks’ each page receives from the starting URL.

Consider making key pages easily accessible to users.