website-structure

Strategy: Website Structure

Guides website structure planning: which pages to build, page priority, and how structure supports UX, SEO, and growth. Structure is the organization and connection of pages; it affects user navigation, Google's understanding of content importance, crawlability, and sitelinks in SERPs. See serp-features for sitelinks and SERP optimization.

When invoking: On first use, if helpful, open with 1–2 sentences on what this skill covers and why it matters, then provide the main output. On subsequent use or when the user asks to skip, go directly to the main output.

Initial Assessment

Check for project context first: If .claude/project-context.md or .cursor/project-context.md exists, read it for product type, audience, and growth goals.

Identify:

1. Website type: Product/SaaS, B2B, E-commerce, Portfolio, Forum, Directory
2. Stage: New site (plan from scratch) vs. existing (extend or audit)
3. Growth strategy: Affiliate, education, multi-language, community, B2B, developer
4. Constraints: Team size, budget, tech stack

Page Priority Framework

Plan pages by priority for development scheduling. See skills-reference §2 Page Taxonomy for full page types and website-type mapping.

Priority	Pages	Notes
Must Have	Home, Product/Features, Pricing, Blog, About, Privacy, Terms, Contact	Essential for trust and conversion; Pricing: public page in nav for self-serve; enterprise-only may use "Contact sales" instead; see pricing-page-generator (Visibility & Placement)
Great to Have	Testimonials, FAQ, Sitemap (HTML), 404, Refund/Returns	Support UX and SEO
Optional	Search Results, News, Careers, Disclosure	Situational
Traffic-driven	Category/Collection pages	For content-heavy or e-commerce; needs Category + Tags

Generic Template Structure

Applicable to SaaS, tools, and content sites. Adapt by removing unused nodes (e.g. no API → drop API) and adding specific modules (e.g. industry, region).

Section	Typical Paths	Page Skills
Root	/, /features, /pricing, /demo, /contact	homepage-generator, features-page-generator, pricing-page-generator
Tools	/tools, /free-tools; hub + per-tool pages	tools-page-generator; free tools for lead gen; often SPA; programmatic; see programmatic-seo
Resources	/blog, /changelog, /glossary, /faq, /tutorials	blog-page-generator, changelog-page-generator, glossary-page-generator, faq-page-generator
Partnership	/affiliate, /startups, /ambassadors	affiliate-page-generator, landing-page-generator
Legal	/terms, /privacy, /careers	terms-page-generator, privacy-page-generator, careers-page-generator
Competitor	/alternatives, /compare, /migrate	alternatives-page-generator, migration-page-generator
Standalone	/dashboard, /login, /signup, /docs, /api, /status, /support	signup-login-page-generator, docs-page-generator, api-page-generator, status-page-generator

Growth Strategy → Structure Mapping

Structure reflects growth strategy. Subdirectories signal channels:

Goal	Path Example	Page/Channel
Affiliate conversion	/affiliate	affiliate-page-generator
Education/student plan	/education, /startups, /student-discount	education-program, startups-page-generator
Multi-language	/zh-CN, /ja	localization-strategy
Community	/ambassadors, /showcase	creator-program, landing-page-generator
B2B / Enterprise	Solutions (industry-first), Use cases (scenario-first; can be sub-pages), Customer stories	solutions-page-generator, use-cases-page-generator, customer-stories-page-generator
Developer product	/api, /docs, /status	api-page-generator, docs-page-generator, status-page-generator
User feedback	Feedback, Roadmap	feedback-page-generator; External (Canny, FeatureBase)
Plugins/Integrations	/integrations, /plugins	integrations-page-generator, category-page-generator
Giveaway/Contest	/giveaway	contest-page-generator

Domain Structure (Multiple Products)

When planning for multiple products or brands, see domain-architecture for subfolder vs subdomain vs independent domain. This skill covers page structure within a single domain. For initial domain choice (Brand vs PMD vs EMD, TLD), see domain-selection.

Planning Workflow

1. Choose template: Start from generic structure; map to skills-reference §2 website types
2. Trim modules: Remove irrelevant nodes (e.g. no API → drop /api, /docs)
3. Add specifics: Industry pages, region, product variants
4. Assign URLs: Per node; follow url-structure (lowercase, hyphens, short, keyword-rich)
5. Export list: "Page type + URL + Priority" for dev scheduling
6. Tech stack: Match page types to services (DNS, auth, CMS, status page, etc.)
7. Iterate: Expand with new features, markets; keep structure clear

Structure Principles

Principle	Guideline
Flat structure	Max 4 clicks from homepage to any page; improves crawlability and weight distribution
Early planning	Plan structure before growth; can start right after domain purchase
Sitelinks	Good structure + TOC + authoritative internal links → natural sitelinks in SERP (cannot be forced via schema); see serp-features
Orphan prevention	Every page needs internal links; see site-crawlability and internal-links
Features vs Use cases	/features = capability-first; /use-cases = scenario-first; differentiate content angle, link between, avoid overlap; see features-page-generator, use-cases-page-generator
Clear navigation	Clear hierarchy and nav improve task completion; users find what they need faster; see navigation-menu-generator
Pricing placement	Marketing site: /pricing in main nav for prospects; in-app: Settings → Billing in sidebar for logged-in users (subscription management). Enterprise-only: "Contact sales" may replace public pricing page; see pricing-page-generator

Homepage Module Reference

See homepage-generator for common modules (Headline, Subheadline, CTA, Benefits, Social Proof, etc.), navigation options, and hero-generator for hero design.

Output Format

• Page list with priority (Must Have / Great to Have / Optional)
• URL structure (paths per section)
• Website-type fit (which pages apply per skills-reference §2)
• Growth mapping (which paths support which channels)
• Next steps: url-structure for URL rules; xml-sitemap for submission; site-crawlability for audit

References

• Website structure SEO guide — Alignify: structure importance, page priority, generic template, planning workflow, growth mapping, homepage modules
• skills-reference §2 — Full page types, website-type matrix, core vs extended; use for page selection

Related Skills

• seo-strategy: SEO workflow order; structure planning fits before Technical phase
• domain-selection: Initial domain choice; do before structure when choosing domain
• domain-architecture: Subfolder vs subdomain vs independent; do before structure if domain decision pending
• url-structure: URL optimization, hierarchy, slugs; apply after structure is defined
• site-crawlability: Crawlability, orphan pages, redirects; audit existing structure
• internal-links: Link strategy, hub-spoke; implement after pages exist
• xml-sitemap: Sitemap creation; include planned URLs
• breadcrumb-generator: Breadcrumb for hierarchy; large sites, e-commerce
• navigation-menu-generator: Nav design; primary, footer, mobile
• content-strategy: Content clusters, pillar pages; complements structure planning