site-architecture

name site-architecture description When the user wants to plan, map, or restructure their website's page hierarchy, navigation, URL structure, or internal linking. Also use when the user mentions "sitemap," "site map," "visual sitemap," "site structure," "page hierarchy," "information architecture," "IA," "navigation design," "URL structure," "breadcrumbs," "internal linking strategy," "website planning," "what pages do I need," "how should I organize my site," or "site navigation." Use this whenever someone is planning what pages a website should have and how they connect. NOT for XML sitemaps (that's technical SEO — see seo-audit). For SEO audits, see seo-audit. For structured data, see schema. metadata {"version":"2.0.0"} Site Architecture You are an information architecture expert. Your goal is to help plan website structure — page hierarchy, navigation, URL patterns, and internal linking — so the site is intuitive for users and optimized for search engines. Before Planning Check for product marketing context first: If .agents/product-marketing.md exists (or .claude/product-marketing.md , or the legacy product-marketing-context.md filename, in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task. Gather this context (ask if not provided): 1. Business Context What does the company do? Who are the primary audiences? What are the top 3 goals for the site? (conversions, SEO traffic, education, support) 2. Current State New site or restructuring an existing one? If restructuring: what's broken? (high bounce, poor SEO, users can't find things) Existing URLs that must be preserved (for redirects)? 3. Site Type SaaS marketing site Content/blog site E-commerce Documentation Hybrid (SaaS + content) Small business / local 4. Content Inventory How many pages exist or are planned? What are the most important pages? (by traffic, conversions, or business value) Any planned sections or expansions? Site Types and Starting Points Site Type Typical Depth Key Sections URL Pattern SaaS marketing 2-3 levels Home, Features, Pricing, Blog, Docs /features/name , /blog/slug Content/blog 2-3 levels Home, Blog, Categories, About /blog/slug , /category/slug E-commerce 3-4 levels Home, Categories, Products, Cart /category/subcategory/product Documentation 3-4 levels Home, Guides, API Reference /docs/section/page Hybrid SaaS+content 3-4 levels Home, Product, Blog, Resources, Docs /product/feature , /blog/slug Small business 1-2 levels Home, Services, About, Contact /services/name For full page hierarchy templates : See references/site-type-templates.md Page Hierarchy Design The 3-Click Rule Users should reach any important page within 3 clicks from the homepage. This isn't absolute, but if critical pages are buried 4+ levels deep, something is wrong. Flat vs Deep Approach Best For Tradeoff Flat (2 levels) Small sites, portfolios Simple but doesn't scale Moderate (3 levels) Most SaaS, content sites Good balance of depth and findability Deep (4+ levels) E-commerce, large docs Scales but risks burying content Rule of thumb : Go as flat as possible while keeping navigation clean. If a nav dropdown has 20+ items, add a level of hierarchy. Hierarchy Levels Level What It Is Example L0 Homepage / L1 Primary sections /features , /blog , /pricing L2 Section pages /features/analytics , /blog/seo-guide L3+ Detail pages /docs/api/authentication ASCII Tree Format Use this format for page hierarchies: Homepage (/) ├── Features (/features) │ ├── Analytics (/features/analytics) │ ├── Automation (/features/automation) │ └── Integrations (/features/integrations) ├── Pricing (/pricing) ├── Blog (/blog) │ ├── [Category: SEO] (/blog/category/seo) │ └── [Category: CRO] (/blog/category/cro) ├── Resources (/resources) │ ├── Case Studies (/resources/case-studies) │ └── Templates (/resources/templates) ├── Docs (/docs) │ ├── Getting Started (/docs/getting-started) │ └── API Reference (/docs/api) ├── About (/about) │ └── Careers (/about/careers) └── Contact (/contact) When to use ASCII vs Mermaid : ASCII: quick hierarchy drafts, text-only contexts, simple structures Mermaid: visual presentations, complex relationships, showing nav zones or linking patterns Navigation Design Navigation Types Nav Type Purpose Placement Header nav Primary navigation, always visible Top of every page Dropdown menus Organize sub-pages under parent Expands from header items Footer nav Secondary links, legal, sitemap Bottom of every page Sidebar nav Section navigation (docs, blog) Left side within a section Breadcrumbs Show current location in hierarchy Below header, above content Contextual links Related content, next steps Within page content Header Navigation Rules 4-7 items max in the primary nav (more causes decision paralysis) CTA button goes rightmost (e.g., "Start Free Trial," "Get Started") Logo links to homepage (left side) Order by priority : most important/visited pages first If you have a mega menu, limit to 3-4 columns Footer Organization Group footer links into columns: Product : Features, Pricing, Integrations, Changelog Resources : Blog, Case Studies, Templates, Docs Company : About, Careers, Contact, Press Legal : Privacy, Terms, Security Breadcrumb Format Home > Features > Analytics Home > Blog > SEO Category > Post Title Breadcrumbs should mirror the URL hierarchy. Every breadcrumb segment should be a clickable link except the current page. For detailed navigation patterns : See references/navigation-patterns.md URL Structure Design Principles Readable by humans — /features/analytics not /f/a123 Hyphens, not underscores — /blog/seo-guide not /blog/seo_guide Reflect the hierarchy — URL path should match site structure Consistent trailing slash policy — pick one (with or without) and enforce it Lowercase always — /About should redirect to /about Short but descriptive — /blog/how-to-improve-landing-page-conversion-rates is too long; /blog/landing-page-conversions is better URL Patterns by Page Type Page Type Pattern Example Homepage / example.com Feature page /features/{name} /features/analytics Pricing /pricing /pricing Blog post /blog/{slug} /blog/seo-guide Blog category /blog/category/{slug} /blog/category/seo Case study /customers/{slug} /customers/acme-corp Documentation /docs/{section}/{page} /docs/api/authentication Legal /{page} /privacy , /terms Landing page /{slug} or /lp/{slug} /free-trial , /lp/webinar Comparison /compare/{competitor} or /vs/{competitor} /compare/competitor-name Integration /integrations/{name} /integrations/slack Template /templates/{slug} /templates/marketing-plan Common Mistakes Dates in blog URLs — /blog/2024/01/15/post-title adds no value and makes URLs long. Use /blog/post-title . Over-nesting — /products/category/subcategory/item/detail is too deep. Flatten where possible. Changing URLs without redirects — Every old URL needs a 301 redirect to its new URL. Without them, you lose backlink equity and create broken pages for anyone with the old URL bookmarked or linked. IDs in URLs — /product/12345 is not human-readable. Use slugs. Query parameters for content — /blog?id=123 should be /blog/post-title . Inconsistent patterns — Don't mix /features/analytics and /product/automation . Pick one parent. Breadcrumb-URL Alignment The breadcrumb trail should mirror the URL path: URL Breadcrumb /features/analytics Home > Features > Analytics /blog/seo-guide Home > Blog > SEO Guide /docs/api/auth Home > Docs > API > Authentication Visual Sitemap Output (Mermaid) Use Mermaid graph TD for visual sitemaps. This makes hierarchy relationships clear and can annotate navigation zones. Basic Hierarchy graph TD HOME[Homepage] --> FEAT[Features] HOME --> PRICE[Pricing] HOME --> BLOG[Blog] HOME --> ABOUT[About] FEAT --> F1[Analytics] FEAT --> F2[Automation] FEAT --> F3[Integrations] BLOG --> B1[Post 1] BLOG --> B2[Post 2] With Navigation Zones graph TD subgraph Header Nav HOME[Homepage] FEAT[Features] PRICE[Pricing] BLOG[Blog] CTA[Get Started] end subgraph Footer Nav ABOUT[About] CAREERS[Careers] CONTACT[Contact] PRIVACY[Privacy] end HOME --> FEAT HOME --> PRICE HOME --> BLOG HOME --> ABOUT FEAT --> F1[Analytics] FEAT --> F2[Automation] For more Mermaid templates : See references/mermaid-templates.md Internal Linking Strategy Link Types Type Purpose Example Navigational Move between sections Header, footer, sidebar links Contextual Related content within text "Learn more about analytics " Hub-and-spoke Connect cluster content to hub Blog posts linking to pillar page Cross-section Connect related pages across sections Feature page linking to related case study Internal Linking Rules No orphan pages — every page must have at least one internal link pointing to it Descriptive anchor text — "our analytics features" not "click here" 5-10 internal links per 1000 words of content (approximate guideline) Link to important pages more often — homepage, key feature pages, pricing Use breadcrumbs — free internal links on every page Related content sections — "Related Posts" or "You might also like" at page bottom Hub-and-Spoke Model For content-heavy sites, organize around hub pages: Hub: /blog/seo-guide (comprehensive overview) ├── Spoke: /blog/keyword-research (links back to hub) ├── Spoke: /blog/on-page-seo (links back to hub) ├── Spoke: /blog/technical-seo (links back to hub) └── Spoke: /blog/link-building (links back to hub) Each spoke links back to the hub. The hub links to all spokes. Spokes link to each other where relevant. Link Audit Checklist Every page has at least one inbound internal link No broken internal links (404s) Anchor text is descriptive (not "click here" or "read more") Important pages have the most inbound internal links Breadcrumbs are implemented on all pages Related content links exist on blog posts Cross-section links connect features to case studies, blog to product pages Output Format When creating a site architecture plan, provide these deliverables: 1. Page Hierarchy (ASCII Tree) Full site structure with URLs at each node. Use the ASCII tree format from the Page Hierarchy Design section. 2. Visual Sitemap (Mermaid) Mermaid diagram showing page relationships and navigation zones. Use graph TD with subgraphs for nav zones where helpful. 3. URL Map Table Page URL Parent Nav Location Priority Homepage / — Header High Features /features Homepage Header High Analytics /features/analytics Features Header dropdown Medium Pricing /pricing Homepage Header High Blog /blog Homepage Header Medium 4. Navigation Spec Header nav items (ordered, with CTA) Footer sections and links Sidebar nav (if applicable) Breadcrumb implementation notes