Growth & Strategy
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
I used to build websites like most designers do - starting with the homepage and working outward. Beautiful designs, perfect user flows, everything mapped out like a traditional sales funnel. Then I worked on an e-commerce project with over 3,000 products that completely changed how I think about site architecture.
The client came to me frustrated. Their site looked amazing, but organic traffic was stuck at 500 monthly visitors despite having thousands of products. Traditional site architecture wasn't working because we were thinking like a physical store with one front door, when SEO requires thinking like a shopping mall with hundreds of entry points.
Here's what you'll learn from my architectural transformation:
Why the "homepage-first" approach kills SEO potential
How I restructured 3,000+ pages for maximum discoverability
The AI-powered categorization system that scaled everything
Why every page needs to work as a landing page
The mega-menu strategy that improved both UX and SEO
This isn't about following best practices - it's about fundamentally rethinking how search engines and users actually discover content. Let me show you how to build architecture that serves both.
Reality Check
What the industry preaches about site architecture
Walk into any web design agency or read any UX blog, and you'll hear the same site architecture advice repeated endlessly:
Start with the homepage - Map out user journeys from your main entry point
Create clear navigation hierarchies - Everything should be findable in 3 clicks
Design conversion funnels - Guide users through predetermined paths
Minimize page depth - Keep everything as close to the root as possible
Focus on internal linking - Connect related pages for better navigation
This advice isn't wrong - it creates beautiful, logical website structures that work great for users who find your homepage first. The problem? In 2025, most users never see your homepage.
Traditional site architecture assumes people discover your business the same way they'd visit a physical store - through the front door. But search engines don't work like that. Google doesn't care about your carefully planned user journey from homepage to conversion.
The conventional approach optimizes for the 20% of users who might follow your intended path while completely ignoring the 80% who land on random pages through search, social media, or direct links. It's architecture designed for a world where the homepage matters, but we're living in a world where every page is a potential entry point.
That fundamental mismatch is why beautiful, well-structured sites often struggle with organic traffic while "messy" sites with thousands of optimized pages dominate search results.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
The project that changed everything for me was a Shopify store with over 3,000 products. The client had invested heavily in beautiful design and clear navigation, but their conversion rate was bleeding out. Despite having an impressive catalog, they were getting fewer than 500 monthly visitors.
When I analyzed their traffic flow, I discovered something that made me completely rethink site architecture. Most visitors weren't using the homepage at all - they were landing on product pages directly from search, then immediately getting lost because individual pages weren't designed to work as standalone entry points.
The traditional architecture looked like this: Homepage → Category Pages → Product Pages. Clean, logical, perfect for someone following the intended path. But Google was sending people directly to product pages buried three levels deep, and these pages had no context, no navigation aids, and no way to help users understand what the store offered.
I realized we were treating our site like a physical store with one entrance when we needed to think like a shopping mall where every shop window could be someone's first impression. Each product page needed to work as both a product showcase AND a store introduction.
That's when I started experimenting with what I call "SEO-first architecture" - building sites where every page assumes it might be someone's first interaction with your business. The results completely changed how I approach every project.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Instead of starting with the homepage, I completely flipped the process. Here's the step-by-step approach that transformed that 3,000-product store and every site I've worked on since:
Step 1: Every Page is a Landing Page
I restructured every product page to include essential context: brief company intro, trust signals, clear navigation to related products, and prominent contact information. Each page became self-contained while still connecting to the broader site.
Step 2: AI-Powered Mega Navigation
Instead of traditional category menus, I built a mega-menu system with 50+ auto-generated categories. I used AI workflows to automatically sort new products into relevant categories, making product discovery possible without ever visiting category pages.
Step 3: The Homepage Transformation
Here's the controversial part: I turned the homepage into the product catalog itself. Instead of hero banners and featured collections, I displayed 48 products directly on the homepage with just a testimonials section below. This eliminated an entire step from the customer journey.
Step 4: SEO-Driven URL Structure
I optimized URLs for search intent, not site hierarchy. Instead of /category/subcategory/product, I used /keyword-rich-product-name. Each URL became a direct answer to potential search queries.
Step 5: Cross-Page Context Systems
Every page included breadcrumbs, related products, and "explore more" sections that helped users navigate without relying on main navigation. I built context into the content, not just the menus.
The key insight: Don't fight how people actually discover content. Build architecture that works with search behavior, not against it.
SEO-First Mindset
Stop thinking homepage → pages. Think keywords → pages. Every page should rank for specific searches independently.
Mega-Menu Power
AI-powered categorization created 50+ product categories automatically, making discovery possible from any page without category browsing.
Homepage as Catalog
Converted homepage from marketing page to product showcase. Eliminated middle steps and doubled conversion rate.
Context Everywhere
Added company intro, trust signals, and navigation aids to every page so first-time visitors understand the business immediately.
The transformation was dramatic and measurable. Within three months of implementing the new architecture:
Traffic Growth: Monthly visitors jumped from under 500 to over 5,000 - a genuine 10x increase in organic traffic. More importantly, this wasn't just any traffic - it was targeted users finding exactly what they searched for.
Conversion Impact: The conversion rate doubled because visitors no longer got lost trying to understand what the business offered. Every page provided complete context for decision-making.
Search Performance: Individual product pages started ranking for long-tail keywords we'd never targeted. The architecture itself became an SEO multiplier, with each page optimized for discoverability.
User Behavior Shift: The homepage reclaimed its position as both the most viewed and most used page on the site. By making it functional rather than just promotional, it became a genuine business asset.
What surprised me most was how this approach improved both SEO AND user experience. Traditional thinking says you have to choose between search optimization and conversion optimization, but SEO-first architecture actually enhanced both simultaneously.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
Here are the seven critical lessons I learned from rebuilding site architecture from the ground up:
Search behavior trumps design theory - Build for how people actually find content, not how you wish they would
Every page needs context - Never assume visitors understand your business before landing on a deep page
AI can solve categorization at scale - Manual organization doesn't work with thousands of products or pages
Homepage functionality beats homepage beauty - Make it useful, not just impressive
URL structure impacts discoverability - Optimize for search intent, not internal logic
Navigation should be everywhere - Don't rely on main menus to guide lost visitors
Architecture IS marketing - How you organize content directly impacts acquisition and conversion
The biggest mistake I see businesses make is treating site architecture as a one-time setup decision. In reality, it should evolve based on how users actually interact with your content, not how you planned for them to interact with it.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS startups implementing SEO-first architecture:
Make every feature page work as a landing page with context about your platform
Build use-case pages that rank for specific problems your software solves
Create integration pages even without native integrations - show manual setup guides
Embed actual product demos or templates directly into marketing pages
For your Ecommerce store
For e-commerce stores optimizing architecture:
Turn category pages into discovery hubs with filtering and related products
Add store context and trust signals to every product page
Use AI to automatically categorize products across multiple relevant categories
Build mega-menu navigation that works as both discovery and SEO tool