Site Architecture Planner

What it does

Site Architecture Planner designs or restructures a website's information architecture (IA) end to end and produces an actionable plan document. It delivers five artifacts together: (1) an ASCII page-hierarchy tree with URLs at every node, (2) a Mermaid visual sitemap that annotates navigation zones (header/footer) with subgraphs, (3) a URL map table with Page · URL · Parent · Nav location · Priority columns, (4) a navigation spec with ordered header items plus CTA, footer columns, and breadcrumb notes, and (5) an internal-linking plan listing hub pages, their spokes, and cross-section opportunities.

The decision logic is evidence-based: the 3-click rule (every important page within ≤3 clicks of home), a 4-7 item header limit (Miller's 7±2 cognitive load), a flat-vs-deep depth matrix, and an "aggressive internal-linking shortcut" compensation whenever depth exceeds 4 levels. URLs are readable, hyphenated, lowercase, and mirror the hierarchy; common mistakes (dates, IDs, query params) are audited; and every old URL is required to carry a 301 redirect.

When to use it

Use it when planning a new site ("what pages do I need and how do they connect"), restructuring an existing one (high bounce, poor SEO, users can't find things), drafting a URL/redirect map ahead of a migration, or standardizing a navigation/breadcrumb/URL pattern. It is NOT for XML sitemaps (technical SEO) — that's seo-audit's job.

Method / frameworks

3-Click Rule · Flat-vs-Deep depth decision · Hierarchy levels (L0 home → L1 primary → L2 section → L3+ detail) · Header 4-7 / Miller 7±2 · Mega-menu 3-4 columns · Footer Product/Resources/Company/Legal grouping · Breadcrumb-URL alignment · Hub-and-Spoke (pillar + cluster) model · No-orphan-page rule · 5-10 internal links per 1000 words · Site-type starting templates (SaaS / content / e-commerce / docs / hybrid / small business). Crawl-depth optimization: pages closer to the homepage earn more link equity and crawl priority.