Planning your website’s structure

Imagine a fictional bookkeeping practice. Prospective clients need to recognise whether it serves them, understand the services, learn what switching involves and make an enquiry. Existing clients may need a separate practical resource. The structure should account for those tasks without making every question a new menu item.

Write the principal audience, question and desired action for each proposed page. A homepage introduces and routes. A service page explains a specific offer. A guide answers a substantial decision question. Contact collects what is needed to reply. Privacy and terms support the operation of the site. Utility pages do not need to chase a commercial keyword to justify their existence.

A proposed example has eleven actual page URLs: /; /services/; /services/bookkeeping/; /services/year-end-accounts/; /services/tax-support/; /switching-accountants/; /about/; /contact/; /client-resources/; /privacy/; /terms/. “Services” is an actual overview URL here. A grouping label without its own URL would not add another page.

The primary menu might show only Services, Switching accountants, About and Contact. The client resource can have a deliberate separate route, and legal pages can sit in the footer. Four main menu links do not mean four pages. Header and footer sections repeated across the site are not additional pages either.

A diagram must make this distinction visible. Use actual URLs or a page register alongside the simplified hierarchy so everyone reviewing the plan counts the same thing.

A separate page is useful when the visitor task changes and you can provide a substantial, specific answer. Bookkeeping and year-end accounts may be distinct services. Closely related small offers may work better on one clear page. Do not create a near-duplicate for every phrase merely because wording differs.

Look at customer enquiries, sales conversations and relevant search results. Some searches seek a provider; others seek instructions or comparison. The answer and next action can differ even when the broad topic is the same. Research informs the responsibility of the page, not an automatic promise that it will rank.

Each proposed page should have an owner and source for its facts. A page with no useful answer or evidence is a production problem, not a box the designer must fill later.

Use labels visitors can understand before clicking. Keep the main menu focused on important routes, rather than every URL in the register. An overview can help someone choose among services; a contextual link can take a reader to the answer they need next.

A service page can link to switching guidance near the relevant concern, then to contact after explaining the engagement. An article can link to a related guide where the reader’s next question arises. These paths should have a reason, not exist only to increase the number of internal links.

On mobile, deliberate grouping and readable controls matter more than squeezing desktop navigation into a smaller space. Test whether a visitor entering on an inner page can understand where they are and reach a useful action.

Useful columns include URL, page title, visitor task, key answer, evidence needed, content owner, next action, internal links and production status. Keep the register alongside the hierarchy. A missing source, unconfirmed promise or duplicated responsibility then becomes visible before design.

Example rows: Bookkeeping explains ongoing record support and routes to an enquiry. Switching accountants explains handover requirements and links to relevant services. Contact qualifies the project and explains what happens next. Each has a different job, although all may help the same person.

Fewer pages can make a site easier to maintain, but page count alone does not determine speed. Performance depends on what individual pages load and how they behave. Do not remove a useful answer merely to make a sitemap look small.

Try these journeys: a referred prospect checking fit; someone searching for one specific service; an article visitor seeking practical help; an existing client looking for resources; someone ready to enquire on a phone. Can each find the next useful step? Are key pages reachable through ordinary links?

Review overlap, missing answers and upkeep before signing off. Keep what already works on an existing site; record address changes rather than treating the diagram as a clean slate. Structure, content and design should be reviewed together.

Google Search Central SEO Starter Guide; the project’s own page planning.