Information architecture turns the list of subpages into a understandable system. It shows which content are the main ones that develop them and how the user is to go from question to decision. Its quality affects navigation, indexing, internal linking and the possibility of further development of the service.
Project start with user tasks
Instead of rewriting the company's organisational structure, we write down customer questions: what they seek, what they compare, what they fear, and what evidence they need.
One page may respond to a few close question options if the intention remains the same. A separate address is needed when the problem changes, the scope of the service or the user's decision.
Service layers
Home page builds orientation and trust. Category pages order the offer, service pages explain value and process, realizations show evidence, and guides answer questions before purchase.
Each layer has its own purpose and a different call for action. This way, the blog does not become an accidental songwriter magazine, and the offer does not try to answer every possible question.
Internal Linking with Sense
The link should appear where it helps to move on to the next step. The link text calls the target page theme. Important materials receive links from offers, categories and related articles.
Automatic clouds of hundreds of phrases make reading and blur the hierarchy more difficult. It is better to show a shorter editorial directory and available archive.
Addresses, names and navigation
The addresses should be stable, short and understandable. The name in the menu, H1, the SEO title and the content do not need to be identical, but they should describe the same subject.
When changing architecture, we prepare a map of old and new addresses. Removing the path without redirecting interrupts both user navigation and signals built by the previous page.
Architecture ready for development
The good model provides for further services, industries, materials and language versions. This does not mean creating empty categories for storage, but setting naming rules, addresses and relationships.
At BxM we combine the public structure with CMS and SEO modules to ensure that new content inherits correct templates and does not require manual repair at each publication.
Checklist
- Collect real questions and customer tasks.
- Combine similar intentions into one complete direction.
- Separate the offer, realizations and knowledge, but connect them with links.
- Remove the phrase clouds from the main view and leave the logical directory.
- Plan the redirects before changing the structure.
Test structure without ready graphics
Save the menu and categories as a simple list. Then prepare several tasks described in the customer's language, without using item names from the menu. The test person should indicate where he would be looking for answers. This allows you to evaluate the naming before an attractive visual setting distracts from problems.
Example: instead of the question “where is CMS migration?” use the situation “you want to move the articles from the old panel to the new one”. If the recipients choose different remote categories, check that the service name is not too technical or too broad. This does not automatically mean you have to create another section.
Set the boundary between development and new subpage
Before writing a new material compare it with existing addresses. Save the main question, recipient and result to get after reading. If all three are almost identical to the current entry, often it is better to develop it.
- A new topic should provide a separate explanation or decision.
- The related detail can receive its own section in a larger guidebook.
- Local content needs real information about a given scope.
- Categories are meant to order the materials, not multiply empty letters.
These principles help the editorial board maintain the structure also when more people are working on the site.
Take care of more than one way
The article can be available from the category, search engine and context link in the offer. Each path should lead to the same appropriate address. No separate copies of the text are needed for each navigation path.
When looking through a larger service, look for materials that no useful link leads to. Check whether the search recognizes the vocabulary of the recipients and not only the exact titles. Architecture remains effective when the user understands the differences between themes and can return to a broader context. The diagram developed at the beginning of the project is helpful, but only the regular application of these rules keeps order in the developed library.
The most common questions
How many menu levels are optimal?
As much as the offer requires, but the most important content should be accessible by a simple and predictable path.
Does each service need a separate page?
Yes, if it has a separate range and intention. Not if it is only synonymous with the existing service.
Does an old blog need to be deleted?
No. It is worth assessing entries, improving the most important ones and leaving archive available in an orderly form.
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