Site Architecture

/site-architecture — page hierarchy + URL + internal linking plan

Plan the bones of a site: hierarchy, URLs, navigation, internal linking. SEO outcomes (crawl budget, authority distribution, ranking ceiling) and UX outcomes (findability, navigability) both depend on this layer being right.

When to invoke

• Building a new site or microsite.
• Major content-library expansion (e.g., ClientCo adding 50+ articles, content needs structural discipline).
• Multi-product site restructure (e.g., ClientCo product-A + product-B).
• Pre-launch: never ship a new site without an explicit architecture plan.

Workflow

Step 1 — Hierarchy decisions

Choose between flat and deep:

Sharp rule: the 3-click rule — every important page should be reachable from the homepage within 3 clicks. If a page is 4+ clicks deep, it's effectively invisible to most users + crawlers.

Step 2 — Hub-and-spoke content model

For content / blog: cluster around pillar pages.

Hub-and-spoke concentrates topical authority; flat blog libraries dissipate it.

Step 3 — Navigation zone design

Sharp rule: 4–7 primary-nav items. Below 4 → site feels stub. Above 7 → cognitive load + mobile-menu pain.

Step 4 — URL pattern decisions

Lock the patterns up-front:

Sharp rules:

• Human-readable. /blog/seo-guide not /blog/post-12345.
• No date prefixes. Content gets refreshed; dates lock it in time.
• Hierarchical reflection. URL depth should match site hierarchy.
• No trailing slashes (or always — pick one, enforce).

Step 5 — Internal linking plan

Step 6 — Produce deliverables

The skill outputs four artifacts for the developer:

A. ASCII hierarchy diagram:

/
├── /product/
│ ├── /product/report-generator
│ └── /product/meeting-prep
├── /pricing
├── /resources/
│ ├── /resources/guides/{slug}
│ ├── /resources/templates/{slug}
│ └── /resources/calculators/{slug}
├── /compare/
│ └── /compare/ClientCo-vs-{competitor}
├── /alternatives/
│ └── /alternatives/{tool}
├── /blog/{slug}
├── /about
└── /contact

B. Mermaid diagram (for the doc):

graph TD
  Home[/] --> Product[/product/]
  Home --> Pricing[/pricing]
  Home --> Resources[/resources/]
  Product --> ProductA[/product/report-generator]
  Product --> ProductB[/product/meeting-prep]
  Resources --> Guides[/resources/guides/]
  Resources --> Templates[/resources/templates/]

C. URL map table with title / target keyword / status (per page).

D. Internal-linking plan: for each page, list inbound + outbound internal links with anchor text.

Worked example — ClientCo multi-product

Current state: Two product domains live separately (ClientCo-website, ClientCo-homepage-v2). Architecture inconsistent.

Proposed unified architecture:

/
├── /product/
│ ├── /product/{product-A}
│ └── /product/{product-B}
├── /pricing
├── /resources/
│ ├── /resources/guides/{slug}
│ └── /resources/case-studies/{slug}
├── /compare/ClientCo-vs-{competitor}
├── /alternatives/{competitor}
├── /about
└── /contact

• Primary nav: 5 items (Product, Pricing, Resources, Compare, About).
• Hub-and-spoke: each product page is a hub for its product-specific guides / case studies.
• Internal linking: every blog post links to ≥ 1 pillar (product or use-case page); every product page links to ≥ 3 supporting articles.

Anti-patterns

• ❌ Pages 4+ clicks deep from homepage. Invisible to crawlers + users.
• ❌ Primary nav > 7 items. Cognitive load + mobile-menu pain.
• ❌ Date-based URLs (/blog/2026/05/post). Lock content in time.
• ❌ Orphan pages (no inbound internal links). Crawl + authority black hole.
• ❌ Flat blog library with no pillar structure. Topical authority dispersed.
• ❌ Exact-match anchor text on every internal link. Reads as SEO manipulation.

Integration with other skills

• Upstream: /content-strategy defines clusters → drives hub-and-spoke; /aeo-strategy defines target queries → informs URL pattern decisions; /icp-research informs navigation labels (audience language).
• Downstream: /website-audit audits the implemented architecture; /landing-page-wireframe builds individual pages within the hierarchy; /aeo-content produces hub + spoke content following the plan.

Attribution

This skill adapts patterns from coreyhaines31/marketingskills/site-architecture/SKILL.md (MIT license, © Corey Haines / Conversion Factory). Adapted to Genesys operator voice with Mermaid + ASCII output formats.

Final ship gate

Run /premortem --output before ship. See /premortem skill for the 5 execution domains (will-it-resonate / will-it-convert / will-it-stay-on-brand / will-stakeholder-push-back / will-it-degrade-over-time) and output template.

Trivial-case escape: ## Premortem\nNo failure modes — trivial change satisfies the contract for genuinely trivial outputs.