Site architecture
How pages are organised and linked.
Site architecture in plain English
Site architecture is how the pages on your website are organised and linked together: the main sections, the menus, the hierarchy from broad to specific, and the paths between related pages. Good architecture means visitors and search engines can reach any important page in a few clicks and understand how pages relate.
How to check site architecture on your site
Sketch your site as a tree on paper, from the home page down. Are your most important pages near the top? Can a visitor reach any service page within three clicks from the home page? Are similar pages grouped together? A crawler can show the click depth of every page.
A worked example
A dental practice's site has treatments scattered across the menu, blog and footer. It reorganises them under a "Treatments" section with subsections for general, cosmetic and emergency care, each with its own hub page. Patients find what they need faster, and the treatment pages get more internal links.
Where it usually goes wrong
- Burying key services several clicks deep.
- Creating a menu so large nobody uses it.
- Grouping pages by your internal departments rather than by customer needs.
- Changing structure without redirecting old URLs.
Why a small site should care
Many small sites grow without a plan: a few service pages, a blog, some old campaign pages and a gallery, all loosely linked. That makes it harder for people to find what they need and harder for search engines to see which pages matter. A simple, logical structure fixes much of that.
It also affects how easy the site is to grow. A clear structure gives every new service or guide an obvious home, rather than another link squeezed into an already crowded menu.
Connected technical terms
- Internal linking: Links between pages on the same site that help users and distribute crawl paths.
- Breadcrumb: Navigational trail showing where a page sits in the site.
- URL slug: The path segment that names a page, ideally clear and stable.
- Pillar page: A comprehensive hub page that clusters link to.
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