# site-architecture

> A Claude Code skill that plans website information architecture — page hierarchy, navigation, URL structure, internal linking, breadcrumbs — so users and search engines both find what they need.

**Use case**: Plan site structure that's intuitive and indexable

**Canonical URL**: https://agentcookbooks.com/skills/site-architecture/

**Topics**: claude-code, skills, marketing, seo

**Trigger phrases**: "site map", "site structure", "page hierarchy", "information architecture", "URL structure"

**Source**: [Corey Haines](https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills/tree/main/skills/site-architecture)

**License**: MIT

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## What it does

`site-architecture` is a Claude Code skill from Corey Haines's [marketing-skills repo](https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills). It turns Claude into an information architect who plans the page hierarchy, navigation, URL patterns, breadcrumb structure, and internal-linking topology so users and search engines both find their way. The skill activates when you mention "sitemap", "site structure", "page hierarchy", "information architecture", or "URL structure".

The output of a session is a site-architecture plan: visual hierarchy (hub-and-spoke or pyramid), navigation menus (primary/secondary/footer), URL pattern rules, breadcrumb logic, internal-linking strategy with priority pages, and a redirect map if migrating from an existing structure.

## When to use it

Reach for it when:

- You're building a new site or launching a major redesign and want architecture-first
- You inherited a site whose URL structure is incoherent and SEO is suffering
- You're planning a content program (clusters, programmatic SEO) and need the IA to support it

When *not* to reach for it:

- It's a single landing page; architecture is overkill
- You need an XML sitemap; that's a technical SEO output, not architecture (use `seo-audit`)

## Install

The skill is distributed via Corey Haines's [marketing-skills repo](https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills). Install via the repo's recommended path — copy the [`site-architecture` SKILL.md](https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills/tree/main/skills/site-architecture) into your project's `.claude/skills/site-architecture/` directory, or use the repo's plugin install if you've set it up.

Once installed, the skill activates on the trigger phrases above. The first time it runs, it will check for `.agents/product-marketing-context.md` (or `.claude/product-marketing-context.md`) — populating that file with your product context first dramatically improves output quality across all of Haines's marketing skills.

## What a session looks like

A typical session has three phases:

1. **Page inventory + intent map.** Every page mapped to a search intent and a buyer-journey stage. Pages with no intent and no journey-stage are flagged for cut.
2. **Hierarchy + URLs.** Hub-and-spoke or pyramid based on content type, URL pattern rules (no dates in URLs, lowercase, hyphens), breadcrumb logic.
3. **Internal-linking + migration.** Priority pages identified for hub-link concentration, link patterns from clusters to hubs, redirect map if migrating from old structure.

The discipline that makes it work: every page has to earn its URL. Architecture punishes pages that can't articulate their intent and journey-stage.

## Receipts

Honest reporting on what `site-architecture` produces and where it has limits:

**Where it works well:**
- The intent + journey-stage filter cuts dead pages that quietly weigh down crawl budget
- Hub-and-spoke hierarchies built into the IA make internal linking mechanical instead of guesswork
- URL-pattern rules prevent the "/blog/2019/05/12/post-name" mistake that haunts sites for years

**Where it backfires:**
- IA without content is a wireframe; the skill scopes the structure but you still need to populate it
- Redirect maps for big migrations are tedious; the skill scopes but doesn't substitute for QA

**Pattern that works:** lock the URL pattern at architecture time. URL changes after launch require redirects, and redirects accumulate compounding tech debt.

## Source and attribution

Originally written by [Corey Haines](https://corey.co). The canonical SKILL.md and any supporting files live in the [`site-architecture` folder](https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills/tree/main/skills/site-architecture) of his [marketing-skills repository](https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills).

License: MIT. You can install, adapt, and redistribute the skill, with attribution preserved.

This page documents the skill from a practitioner's perspective. For the formal spec and any updates, defer to the source repo.