Working With Nested Routes in Next.js Blogs

Nested routes are a powerful organizational tool for blog content, allowing you to group related posts in a logical directory structure. This post demonstrates how to implement and leverage nested routes effectively in your Next.js blog—and serves as a perfect example, as it's located in the /data/blog/nested-route/ directory!

Why Use Nested Routes?

Before diving into implementation, let's understand the benefits:

Enhanced Organization: Keep related content grouped together
Improved Maintainability: Easier to manage large content libraries
Better User Experience: Logical URL structures that users can understand
SEO Benefits: Search engines better understand content relationships
Scalability: Your content structure grows naturally with your blog

Implementation Guide

Basic Setup

Creating nested routes is straightforward. Simply organize your MDX files in subdirectories within your /data/blog folder:

/data/blog/
├── my-first-post.mdx
├── javascript-fundamentals/
│   ├── variables-and-types.mdx
│   ├── functions-and-scope.mdx
│   └── async-programming.mdx
└── react-series/
    ├── getting-started/
    │   ├── installation.mdx
    │   └── your-first-component.mdx
    └── advanced-concepts/
        ├── context-api.mdx
        └── custom-hooks.mdx

How Next.js Handles the Routing

Next.js uses dynamic routing with the [...slug] pattern to catch all nested routes. In this blog template, the routing is handled by:

// app/blog/[...slug]/page.tsx
export default function BlogPost({ params }: { params: { slug: string[] } }) {
  // The slug array contains all path segments
  // For /blog/react-series/getting-started/installation
  // slug = ['react-series', 'getting-started', 'installation']

  const slug = decodeURI(params.slug.join('/'))
  const post = allPosts.find((p) => p.slug === slug)

  // Rest of component logic...
}

URL Structure

The directory structure directly maps to your URL structure:

File Path	Generated URL
`/data/blog/my-post.mdx`	`/blog/my-post`
`/data/blog/series/part-1.mdx`	`/blog/series/part-1`
`/data/blog/tutorials/react/hooks.mdx`	`/blog/tutorials/react/hooks`

Best Practices

1. Choose Meaningful Directory Names

Use descriptive, SEO-friendly directory names:

# Good
/web-development-basics/
/react-tutorial-series/
/performance-optimization/

# Avoid
/misc/
/temp/
/stuff/

2. Consistent Naming Conventions

Establish and stick to naming patterns:

/javascript-course/
├── 01-variables-and-data-types.mdx
├── 02-functions-and-scope.mdx
├── 03-objects-and-arrays.mdx
└── 04-async-programming.mdx

3. Logical Grouping Strategies

By Topic/Technology:

/data/blog/
├── javascript/
├── react/
├── nodejs/
└── css/

By Content Type:

/data/blog/
├── tutorials/
├── case-studies/
├── announcements/
└── guides/

By Series:

/data/blog/
├── building-saas-app/
│   ├── part-01-planning.mdx
│   ├── part-02-backend.mdx
│   └── part-03-frontend.mdx
└── machine-learning-basics/
    ├── introduction.mdx
    ├── linear-regression.mdx
    └── neural-networks.mdx

Real-World Use Cases

1. Tutorial Series

Perfect for multi-part educational content:

/fullstack-development/
├── 01-project-setup.mdx
├── 02-database-design.mdx
├── 03-api-development.mdx
├── 04-frontend-setup.mdx
└── 05-deployment.mdx

2. Product Documentation

Organize feature documentation logically:

/product-docs/
├── getting-started/
│   ├── installation.mdx
│   └── quick-start.mdx
├── api-reference/
│   ├── authentication.mdx
│   └── endpoints.mdx
└── advanced-features/
    ├── webhooks.mdx
    └── rate-limiting.mdx

3. Author-Based Organization

Separate content by different authors or teams:

/authors/
├── john-doe/
│   ├── react-best-practices.mdx
│   └── testing-strategies.mdx
└── jane-smith/
    ├── design-systems.mdx
    └── accessibility-guide.mdx

Advanced Features

Leverage the organized structure for better content discovery:

---
title: 'Advanced React Patterns'
date: '2024-11-02'
relatedPosts:
  - 'react-series/getting-started/your-first-component'
  - 'react-series/advanced-concepts/context-api'
---

This post builds on concepts from our [React fundamentals series](/blog/react-series/getting-started).

Automated Navigation

Generate series navigation automatically based on directory structure:

// utils/getSeriesNavigation.ts
export function getSeriesNavigation(currentSlug: string) {
  const seriesPath = currentSlug.split('/').slice(0, -1).join('/')
  const seriesPosts = allPosts.filter(
    (post) => post.slug.startsWith(seriesPath) && post.slug !== currentSlug
  )

  return seriesPosts.sort((a, b) => new Date(a.date).getTime() - new Date(b.date).getTime())
}

SEO Considerations

URL Structure Benefits

Nested routes create semantic URLs that benefit SEO:

/blog/web-development/javascript/async-await clearly indicates content hierarchy
Search engines understand topical relationships
Users can navigate by modifying URLs

Generate breadcrumbs automatically from the URL structure:

// components/Breadcrumbs.tsx
export function Breadcrumbs({ slug }: { slug: string }) {
  const segments = slug.split('/')

  return (
    <nav aria-label="Breadcrumb">
      <ol className="flex space-x-2">
        <li><Link href="/blog">Blog</Link></li>
        {segments.map((segment, index) => {
          const href = `/blog/${segments.slice(0, index + 1).join('/')}`
          const isLast = index === segments.length - 1

          return (
            <li key={segment}>
              {isLast ? (
                <span>{formatSegment(segment)}</span>
              ) : (
                <Link href={href}>{formatSegment(segment)}</Link>
              )}
            </li>
          )
        })}
      </ol>
    </nav>
  )
}

Common Pitfalls and Solutions

1. Over-Nesting

❌ Too Deep:

/tutorials/web/frontend/react/hooks/useeffect/advanced/cleanup.mdx

✅ Better:

/react-tutorials/useeffect-cleanup.mdx

2. Inconsistent Structure

Maintain consistent patterns across your content:

# Consistent pattern
/series-name/
├── 01-introduction.mdx
├── 02-basic-concepts.mdx
└── 03-advanced-topics.mdx

3. Date-Based vs. Logical Organization

Remember that your blog listing will still sort by date, regardless of directory structure. Nested routes are for organization, not chronological ordering.

Conclusion

Nested routes provide a powerful way to organize your blog content logically while maintaining all the benefits of a traditional blog structure. They're particularly valuable for:

Educational content and tutorials
Documentation sites
Multi-author blogs
Content-heavy sites requiring clear organization

By implementing nested routes thoughtfully, you create a more maintainable, discoverable, and user-friendly blog structure that scales with your content growth.

This post itself demonstrates nested routing—it lives in /data/blog/nested-route/working-with-nested-routes.mdx and is accessible at /blog/nested-route/working-with-nested-routes!