Site Structure and URL Architecture¶

Site hierarchy principles, URL construction rules, nesting levels, and structure templates by site type. Structure errors can prevent ranking regardless of other optimizations.

Principles of Structure Building¶

Four sequential steps: 1. Collect semantics - all demand segments 2. Build visual structure - mind map before implementation 3. Analyze competitors - look at structure of leaders (avoid identical structure - risk of affiliation filter) 4. Prepare URL addresses - create the URL tree

Nesting Level¶

Definition: Number of clicks from homepage to reach the page (NOT number of slashes in URL).

Rules¶

All primary promoted pages: no deeper than 3 clicks from homepage
Pages targeting HF queries: ideally no deeper than 2 clicks
Moving a page from 5 clicks to 1 click can push it from top-20 to top-10

URL Nesting vs Click Depth¶

URL nesting (slash count) does NOT equal click depth: - site.ru/catalog/category/subcategory - 3 slashes but could be 2 clicks via mega-menu - URL nesting doesn't directly affect rankings - URL depth useful for analytics segmentation (filter by URL folder in Metrica/GA)

Structure Under Semantics¶

Core principle: Semantics = a ready cross-section of user demand. Create pages to cover that demand.

Cluster with frequency > 0 and distinct intent -> create separate page
Warning: many zero-content or thin pages -> "page quality insufficient" notifications
Homepage = strongest page; assign the most "parent" cluster
Homepage must have feeds to all site sections

Information/Commercial Separation¶

Commercial queries: category, product, service pages
Informational queries: blog, articles, FAQs
Super cards: product/service pages with deep content satisfying both intent types

URL Construction Rules¶

SEO-Optimized URLs (Human-Readable)¶

Human-readable URLs are mandatory for SEO
Use correct transliteration (not English translation for Russian sites)
Must contain the target query words
Avoid commercial words in URL (buy, price, order)
Avoid keyword repetition in URL path:
BAD: /baby-strollers/baby-strollers-for-newborns/
GOOD: /baby-strollers/for-newborns/
Avoid too-long URLs or 6+ slashes

URL Quality Examples¶

BAD:  splav.ru/catalog.aspx?cat=20081113151601100150
OK:   secretpoint.ru/catalog/shoes/military/
GOOD: voentorga.ru/catalog/bertsy/

Technical URL Requirements¶

Strictly Latin characters
Only letters and digits, no special characters
Words separated by hyphen only (no underscores)
Lowercase only; uppercase -> 301 redirect to lowercase
Relative URLs in code
Main mirror: https://site.ru/ (with trailing slash)
No duplicate path segments
No more than 2 redirects; no chains or infinite loops
All dev/staging environments closed via HTTP authentication

Structure Templates by Site Type¶

E-commerce¶

/ (Homepage)
+-- /contacts/
+-- /about/
+-- /delivery/
+-- /blog/
|   +-- /blog/article-1/
+-- /catalog/
    +-- /catalog/category/           <- "Digital technology"
    |   +-- /catalog/category/sub/   <- "Laptops"
    |   +-- /catalog/category/brand/ <- "Laptops Asus"
    |   +-- /catalog/category/tag/   <- "Gaming laptops"
    +-- /catalog/product-card/       <- Product card

Product card subpages (SEO hack): create sub-pages optimized individually: - /product/reviews/ - reviews - /product/specifications/ - specs - /product/photos/ - photos - /product/accessories/ - accessories with H2 subheadings per type

Service Site¶

/ (Homepage)
+-- /contacts/
+-- /about/
+-- /blog/          (with anchor links to services)
+-- /services/
    +-- /services/service-1/
    +-- /services/category-1/
        +-- /services/category-1/service-3/

Blog/Informational¶

/ (Homepage)
+-- /about/
+-- /section-1/
|   +-- /section-1/article-1/
+-- /section-2/
|   +-- /section-2/article-3/
+-- /tags/

Click-Through Structure Instruments¶

Homepage¶

Most powerful page (highest weight)
Add links to high-priority pages to reduce click depth
"New Arrivals" blocks for fast indexation of new pages
Feature important subcategories to boost their weight

HTML Sitemap¶

User-accessible page with anchor links to all sections
Reduces click depth: main page -> sitemap (1 click) -> any section (2 clicks)
For large sites: split into multiple sitemaps by section
Usually in footer as "Site Map"
Up to 1,000 internal links per page - no problem; max 5,000

XML Sitemap¶

Technical file at yourdomain.ru/sitemap.xml
Contains all URLs + lastmod tags
Submit to Webmaster and Search Console
Always include sitemap URL in robots.txt

Header/footer/sidebar navigation on all pages
Must be <a href> HTML tags - not JavaScript
JS-only navigation = invisible to search robots

Common Structure Errors¶

Breadcrumb errors: current page clickable (self-referencing), title in breadcrumb (too long), breadcrumbs via JS (invisible to robots)
Cyclic links: page links to itself; wastes crawl budget
Query cannibalization: hub page competes with child pages for same queries. Fix: rename hub or close from indexation
No promoted pages unreachable from homepage
No "hanging nodes" - pages linking to nothing
JS-only navigation - bots cannot follow

Deliverables from Structure Work¶

Completed mind map of site
Click-depth structure document
URL address table (URL hierarchy)
Menu schema and internal linking requirements per page type

Gotchas¶

Click depth matters far more than URL depth - a page at site.com/a/b/c/d/ but 2 clicks from home outranks one at site.com/x/ buried 5 clicks deep
Identical competitor structure risks affiliation filter - analyze competitors but differentiate
HTML sitemap is an SEO instrument, not just UX - it directly controls crawl depth
JavaScript navigation is invisible - all critical links must be direct HTML <a> tags
Product card subpages are underused - separate review/specs/accessories pages capture additional long-tail traffic