AI & Automation
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
For the first few years of my freelance career, I was basically an architect of what I now call "digital ghost towns." I'd spend weeks crafting pixel-perfect websites - brand-aligned, modern, conversion-optimized. Every client left our initial meetings thrilled about their upcoming digital transformation.
But here's what I discovered after tracking results across dozens of projects: I was essentially training world-class sales reps to do door-to-door sales in an empty neighborhood.
These websites had become expensive digital brochures - impressive when someone stumbled upon them, but nobody was stumbling upon them. The harsh reality: without traffic, even the world's best-converting website converts zero.
This realization forced me to completely restructure my approach to website development. Instead of starting with pretty designs, I learned to build from an SEO-first architecture that actually gets found.
Here's what you'll learn from my shift to SEO-focused website architecture:
Why traditional "design-first" approaches kill organic visibility
The fundamental mindset shift from homepage-centric to entry-point thinking
My step-by-step framework for building websites that rank from day one
How to structure your site architecture around search intent, not company org charts
Platform choices that support scalable SEO (and why WordPress isn't always the answer)
Industry Reality
What every web designer has been taught
Most web design education and industry "best practices" follow what I call the "homepage-down" approach. You'll find this methodology everywhere - from design bootcamps to agency playbooks to WordPress themes.
Here's how the traditional process works:
Start with the homepage - Design the perfect first impression
Map user journeys - Think about where visitors go from the homepage
Create supporting pages - About, Services, Contact, etc.
Optimize for conversion - Perfect the funnel from homepage to purchase
Add SEO later - Sprinkle in some keywords and meta tags
This approach exists because it mirrors how physical businesses work. You design a beautiful storefront, optimize the layout for customer flow, and make sure everything looks professional. It's logical, proven, and creates stunning results.
The problem? Digital isn't physical. In the physical world, your store has a single front door on a street with foot traffic. Online, every page can be someone's first impression, and there's no guaranteed foot traffic.
Most designers and agencies stick to this approach because it's easier to sell, faster to execute, and produces immediate "wow" moments in client presentations. But it fundamentally misunderstands how people actually discover websites in 2025.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
The wake-up call came when I started tracking long-term results for my design clients. Despite delivering gorgeous, high-converting websites, most were getting fewer than 500 organic visitors per month. Some had been live for over a year with beautiful conversion funnels that nobody ever saw.
One e-commerce client hit me with a brutal question: "Why did we spend months perfecting our product pages when only 12 people found them through Google last month?"
That's when I realized I was solving the wrong problem. I was optimizing the "sales rep" (the website) without solving the "empty mall" problem (no traffic). Beautiful design with zero discoverability equals zero business impact.
The turning point came with a B2B SaaS client who needed a complete website overhaul. Instead of starting with wireframes and brand guidelines, I decided to flip the entire process. What if we built the architecture around how people actually search for solutions, not how the company wanted to present itself?
This client became my testing ground for what I now call "SEO-first architecture" - a approach that treats every page as a potential front door and structures content around search intent rather than company hierarchy.
The difference was immediate and dramatic. While my previous "beautiful" websites struggled to break 1,000 monthly organic visitors, this SEO-first approach was generating qualified traffic from day one. More importantly, this traffic was converting because it aligned with what people were actually looking for.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Here's the complete framework I developed for building websites that get found, not just admired:
Step 1: Keyword-Driven Site Structure
Instead of starting with company departments or service categories, I map the entire site structure around keyword clusters. Every major section represents a primary keyword opportunity, and every page within that section targets related long-tail phrases.
For that B2B SaaS client, instead of generic sections like "Solutions" and "About," we created sections around actual search terms: "project management software," "team collaboration tools," "remote work solutions." Each section became a content hub targeting dozens of related keywords.
Step 2: Multi-Entry Point Design
The biggest mindset shift: stop thinking about the homepage as the main entry point. In SEO-first architecture, every page is designed to work as someone's first impression of your company.
This means every page needs:
Clear value proposition visible above the fold
Navigation that makes sense regardless of entry point
Internal linking that guides visitors to related content
Trust signals and social proof
Step 3: Content-First Information Architecture
Traditional websites organize content around business structure. SEO-first websites organize around search intent and user problems. I create detailed content maps that show how each piece of content serves both user needs and search engine requirements.
For our SaaS client, we identified 15 core problem areas their software solved, then built dedicated content sections around each problem. Every section included problem-aware content (blog posts), solution-aware content (feature pages), and product-aware content (comparison and case studies).
Step 4: Technical Foundation for Scale
SEO-first architecture requires technical choices that support content growth, not just pretty designs. This means:
Platform selection based on SEO capabilities, not just design flexibility
URL structure that supports content hierarchy and expansion
Template systems that maintain SEO consistency at scale
Performance optimization built into the foundation
After seeing the results with Webflow vs WordPress debates, I realized the best platform is the one that lets marketing teams iterate quickly without developer bottlenecks. For most clients, that meant Webflow or Framer over traditional CMS options.
Keyword Mapping
Map your entire site structure around actual search terms, not business departments. Every section should target a primary keyword cluster with supporting long-tail opportunities.
Entry Point Strategy
Design every page to work as someone's first impression. Include clear value props, intuitive navigation, and trust signals regardless of how visitors arrive.
Content Architecture
Organize content around user problems and search intent, not company structure. Create content hubs that serve different stages of buyer awareness.
Technical Foundation
Choose platforms and technical approaches that support content growth and marketing team autonomy, not just design flexibility.
The results from this SEO-first approach were transformative. Within three months of launch, our B2B SaaS client's website went from zero to over 2,000 monthly organic visitors. More importantly, these weren't random visitors - they were qualified prospects searching for the exact problems the software solved.
By month six, organic traffic had grown to over 5,000 monthly visitors, with a 35% higher conversion rate than their previous paid traffic. The reason? People finding you through search are already problem-aware and solution-seeking.
The compound effect was even more impressive. Because the architecture was built around keyword clusters, every new piece of content amplified the authority of related pages. Adding blog posts about "remote team management" boosted rankings for the "team collaboration tools" section. Creating comparison pages improved visibility for product feature pages.
Perhaps most importantly, the marketing team could now iterate and optimize without waiting for developer availability. They owned their own growth engine.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
Here are the top lessons learned from rebuilding dozens of websites with SEO-first architecture:
Search intent beats design awards every time. A "ugly" page that ranks #1 for your target keyword will always outperform a beautiful page that nobody finds.
Every page is a landing page. Stop obsessing over homepage optimization and start thinking about creating multiple entry points that convert.
Content architecture is more important than visual design. How you organize and structure content determines both user experience and search performance.
Platform choice impacts marketing velocity. Choose tools that let marketing teams move fast, not just designers create pretty mockups.
Technical SEO is foundational, not optional. Site speed, mobile optimization, and clean code structure can't be "added later" - they need to be built in from day one.
Keywords inform architecture, not the other way around. Let search data guide your information architecture decisions, not internal company structure.
Scale requires systems, not heroics. Build templates and processes that maintain SEO quality as you add content, don't rely on manual optimization for every page.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS companies implementing SEO-first architecture:
Structure product pages around feature-specific keywords, not internal product names
Create use-case landing pages for different customer segments and their specific search terms
Build integration pages for popular tools, even if native integrations don't exist yet
Design your pricing page with comparison keywords in mind
For your Ecommerce store
For ecommerce stores optimizing site architecture:
Organize category pages around how people search for products, not internal inventory systems
Create buying guide content that links to relevant product categories
Design product pages with long-tail keywords and search intent in mind
Build collection pages that target specific product + modifier combinations