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:

• Website type: Product/SaaS, B2B, E-commerce, Portfolio, Forum, Directory

• Stage: New site (plan from scratch) vs. existing (extend or audit)

• Growth strategy: Affiliate, education, multi-language, community, B2B, developer

• 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

• Choose template: Start from generic structure; map to skills-reference §2 website types

• Trim modules: Remove irrelevant nodes (e.g. no API → drop /api, /docs)

• Add specifics: Industry pages, region, product variants

• Assign URLs: Per node; follow url-structure (lowercase, hyphens, short, keyword-rich)

• Export list: "Page type + URL + Priority" for dev scheduling

• Tech stack: Match page types to services (DNS, auth, CMS, status page, etc.)

• 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

Common modules to combine: Headline, Subheadline, Primary CTA, Supporting Image/Demo, Benefits Section, Social Proof, Search Box (if applicable), Secondary CTA, Banner. Navigation: Horizontal Bar, Dropdown, Hamburger (mobile), Sidebar, Footer; ensure Desktop + Mobile parity. See homepage-generator and hero-generator.

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 (docs/skills-reference.md#2-page-taxonomy) — 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