Website Architecture Map | Define Your Site Structure with a Sitemap

A website architecture map is an extremely useful tool in the site design and development process.

One of the most important steps in that process is designing a logical navigation path for users to follow through the site. They should be intuitive and reduce the number of clicks to a minimum.

  • The homepage should provide the “high level” overview of what your company offers. Get to the point and state your message immediately!
  • Think logically and consider how your users will navigate through the site, then tailor your content to them.
  • Your users should be able to access any page on the site with no more than three clicks from the homepage. Don’t forget that you can link within a page.

1st Step in a Website Relaunch Project

Prepare a sitemap to visualize the site and the relationship of each page to one another. This is a good time to set up a separate Excel file to map old URLs to new URLs in preparation for creating 301 Redirects. Below is an example of a sitemap with current and planned pages illustrated or download the PDF sitemap.

ToTheWeb Site Map Graphic

Use this sample site map as a guide as part of your first step in a website relaunch project. Click To Tweet

Related Content

Great article from Jakob Nielsen and his Evidence-Based User Experience Research: Wireflows: A UX Deliverable for Workflows and Apps

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