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Module 03

Search intent and site architecture

Map audience tasks to useful page types, navigation, folders, and internal paths without creating a page for every keyword variation.

  • SEO specialists
  • Content teams
  • Developers
  • Agencies
Module case file

Horizon Legal has overlapping Texas pages

Several service, city, and informational pages compete for similar tasks. The goal is a page map that gives each searcher need one intentional destination and preserves useful internal paths.

Section
Personal injury services and Texas locations
Risk
Near-duplicate city and service combinations
Evidence
Keyword List, ranking URLs, internal links
Deliverable
Keep, improve, create, merge, redirect, or remove per URL
Your finished deliverable

Finish a URL map with parent, purpose, target topic, action, owner, dependency, and post-launch measurement for every proposed page.

Lesson 3.1

Infer intent from evidence

Replace modifier-only intent labels with an evidence-based task statement.

Why this matters

The same word can support different tasks by market, device, location, and moment. Use result types, ranking pages, query refinements, existing conversions, and customer language as evidence.

Build yours

  1. State the likely task in one sentence.
  2. List the dominant result and page types.
  3. Note local, product, image, video, forum, or answer features.
  4. Record competing interpretations and confidence.
Completed example: Horizon Legal

Evidence-based task statement

The task replaces a generic commercial-intent label.

Finished output

Query
texas car accident settlement calculator
Primary task
Estimate a possible settlement range and understand limits
Dominant results
Calculators plus explanatory legal guides
Competing task
Find a lawyer after estimating value
Confidence
Medium; result set mixes tools and service pages
Decision

The destination must provide calculator utility and explanation before a consultation CTA.

Save this in

Intent evidence attached to the calculator URL map row.

Before you move on

  • Intent is a task, not a funnel label.
  • Uncertainty is visible.
  • The evidence can be revisited.
Lesson 3.2

Choose the page type

Match the experience to the task before writing copy.

Why this matters

A service page, product page, category, guide, comparison, tool, location page, and support article solve different jobs. A page should earn its URL by serving a distinct need.

Build yours

  1. Choose the primary task and page type.
  2. Define the unique evidence, utility, or transaction the page provides.
  3. Identify the parent section and useful sibling pages.
  4. Reject thin variants that would differ only by swapped terms.
Completed example: Horizon Legal

Page-type decision

The experience is chosen from the task, not from a keyword modifier.

Finished output

Page type
Interactive calculator with supporting guide
Unique utility
Inputs, range, assumptions, and local legal context
Parent
/resources/
Useful siblings
Damages guide; claim timeline; fee guide
Rejected
Separate thin calculators for every Texas city
Decision

Keep one canonical Texas calculator and connect city service pages contextually.

Save this in

Architecture map: /resources/settlement-calculator/.

Before you move on

  • The page has a distinct purpose.
  • Its parent and siblings are logical.
  • The plan avoids doorway-like variants.
Lesson 3.3

Build the architecture map

Create a navigable hierarchy for users and crawlers.

Why this matters

Logical grouping and descriptive paths help people understand where they are and help search systems discover relationships. The map should reflect the site's real offerings and information, not a keyword taxonomy imposed on the business.

Build yours

  1. Group pages by stable audience task or business area.
  2. Assign one canonical URL per intended page.
  3. Define navigation and contextual internal-link paths.
  4. Check orphan, duplicate, parameter, and pagination risks.
Completed example: Horizon Legal

Personal injury section map

The map establishes predictable parent, child, and contextual paths.

Finished output

Hub
/personal-injury/
Service child
/personal-injury/truck-accidents/
Location child
/locations/austin/
Resource
/resources/settlement-calculator/
Link path
Service and location pages link to the calculator when relevant
Decision

Use stable service and location structures; do not multiply service-city doorway pages.

Save this in

Project architecture record with canonical URL and parent for each row.

Actual product

Keep topic groups attached to movement

Rank Tracker tags let teams inspect a page group or topic cohort without rebuilding the segment in a spreadsheet.

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PageOptimized Rank Tracker tags view showing segmented keyword movement and tracked URLs.Open full size
  1. Create decision-relevant groups.
  2. Attach target pages.
  3. Review movement by cohort.
  4. Revise the map when evidence changes.

Before you move on

  • Every important page has a discovery path.
  • Canonical intent is explicit.
  • Users can predict what each section contains.
Lesson 3.4

Turn the map into work

Move approved pages into an owned, sequenced content plan.

Why this matters

Architecture only creates value when page creation, consolidation, redirects, links, and measurement are coordinated.

Build yours

  1. Mark each URL keep, improve, create, merge, redirect, or remove.
  2. Attach the supporting keyword and intent evidence.
  3. Sequence dependencies such as templates, navigation, and redirects.
  4. Assign an owner, reviewer, and success check.
Completed example: Horizon Legal

Owned architecture handoff

The approved map becomes sequenced work rather than a diagram nobody ships.

Finished output

Improve
/truck-accidents/; owner Content; due Sep 4
Move
Calculator to /resources/; owner Engineering; due Sep 8
Redirect
Old calculator URL -> new canonical; release dependency
Verify
Internal links, indexation, rankings, and calculator events
Decision

Release the redirect and internal-link update in the same deployment as the move.

Save this in

Content Plan plus linked Work Queue tasks for engineering and content.

Before you move on

  • Every change has an owner.
  • Redirect and link dependencies are included.
  • Measurement is defined before launch.
Primary references

Verify the practice at the source.

Practices and source links reviewed August 2026.