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name: seo-structure-architect description: Use when implementing schema markup, optimizing header hierarchy, building internal linking structures, planning site architecture, or checking Core Web Vitals. Covers JSON-LD schema, topic clusters, breadcrumbs, sitemaps, and page structure for both traditional and AI search. family: seo

SEO Structure Architect

Overview

Structure is how search engines and AI systems parse your content. Clear hierarchy, complete schema, and logical internal linking determine whether your content gets indexed, cited, and ranked. 65% of pages cited by Google AI Mode include structured data.

Schema Markup

Always use JSON-LD (in <head>). Google recommends it, new features ship to JSON-LD first, and it has the lowest error rate.

Priority Schema Types (2026)

CANONICAL OWNER. This table and the Deprecated table below are the single source of truth for schema status across the SEO/ecommerce family. ai-search-optimizer and seo-serp-optimizer rank schema for their purpose but must not restate status here — they point at this file. Rationale: three partial copies of these tables previously existed; FAQPage drifted into three different verdicts, and the copies still disagree by omission (one lacked WebSite and MerchantReturnPolicy entirely). Verify with python3 ~/.claude/skills/_meta/gates.py G_CLAIM_FRESHNESS --claim-mode strict.

Schema	Where	Impact	Notes
Product + Offer	Every product page	CRITICAL	Include: name, image, description, brand, SKU, price, availability, reviews. Products with complete schema are preferentially cited by AI shopping
Organization	Site-wide (once)	CRITICAL	sameAs to all official profiles. Entity foundation
LocalBusiness/ComputerStore	Site-wide (once)	HIGH	NAP, geo, areaServed, openingHours
BreadcrumbList	All pages	HIGH	Up to 30% CTR boost on desktop (removed from mobile SERPs Jan 2025)
WebSite	Site-wide (once)	HIGH	Controls site name display in SERPs
AggregateRating	Product pages	HIGH	Star ratings boost CTR 20-35%
FAQPage	Product/category/guide pages	LOW	Rich result fully removed May 2026 (no site qualifies). Still valid schema, still valuable for AI parsing
MerchantReturnPolicy	Site-wide	MEDIUM	Requires returnPolicyCountry. Trust signal

Deprecated — Do NOT Implement for Rich Results

Schema	Status
HowTo	Fully deprecated (all sites)
FAQPage	Fully deprecated 7 May 2026 — no rich result for any site (was gov/health-only from Aug 2023). Search Console reporting removed Jun 2026, API Aug 2026. Still valid schema — keep for AI parsing, expect zero SERP real estate
Q&A	Deprecated Jan 2026
SitelinksSearchBox	Deprecated Jan 2026
Dataset (for search)	Deprecated Jan 2026
SpecialAnnouncement	Deprecated Jan 2026
PracticeProblem	Deprecated Jan 2026

Schema Rules

• Never implement empty schema — worse than no schema at all
• Populate ALL relevant properties before adding
• Validate with Google Rich Results Test before deployment
• sameAs URLs must be valid and accessible — 404s hurt entity recognition
• For custom-built PCs without GTINs: use mpn with your SKU system, set identifier_exists: false

Header Hierarchy

• One H1 per page matching the primary topic/entity
• H2s for main sections — question-format headings boost AI extraction and PAA eligibility
• H3s for subsections with related terms
• Never skip levels (H1 → H3 directly)
• AI systems parse content into chunks using headings — logical hierarchy = better AI citation

Internal Linking

Topic clusters remain the gold standard. Zyppy's 23M internal link study shows pages with 40-44 internal links get ~4x more traffic than pages with 0-4.

Hub-and-Spoke Model

• 1 pillar page (hub) links to 6-12 spoke pages
• Each spoke links back to hub + cross-links to 2-3 related spokes
• Each spoke should have 3-6 internal links total
• Fewer than 6 spokes = lacks coverage breadth; more than 12 = dilutes focus

Linking Rules

• Contextual links in body content carry more weight than nav/footer links
• Descriptive anchor text (never "click here" or "learn more")
• Diversify anchor text pointing to same page
• 2-5 contextual links per 1,000 words
• Total links per page under 150

Site Architecture

• 3-click max from homepage to any important page
• Homepage → Category → Subcategory → Product
• Click depth directly correlates with crawl efficiency — pages beyond 3 clicks see reduced crawl rates
• Flat URLs (/product-name) are flexible; moderate hierarchy (/category/product-name) is practical for e-commerce
• Faceted/filter URLs need explicit crawl control — parameter combinations can explode crawl paths and create thin duplicates. See woocommerce-faceted-navigation for the index-worthy-vs-thin allowlist and the canonical/noindex/robots decision matrix.

Core Web Vitals

Metric	Good	Needs Improvement	Poor
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)	< 2.5s	2.5-4.0s	> 4.0s
INP (Interaction to Next Paint)	< 200ms	200-500ms	> 500ms
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)	< 0.1	0.1-0.25	> 0.25

• INP replaced FID in March 2024 — measures full interaction responsiveness, not just input delay
• CWV is a tiebreaker in competitive niches, not a primary factor
• Pages at position 1 are 10% more likely to pass CWV thresholds than position 9
• Every 100ms of latency costs ~1% in sales; 53% of mobile users abandon pages >3 seconds
• LCP >3s = 23% more traffic loss in December 2025 core update

XML Sitemaps

• Max 50,000 URLs per file, 50MB uncompressed. Use sitemap index for larger sites
• Google ignores <priority> and <changefreq> completely — only <lastmod> matters
• <lastmod> must accurately reflect genuine content changes — fake dates hurt
• Only include indexable, canonical, 200-status URLs

Anti-Patterns

Don't	Why
Use Microdata/RDFa for new implementations	JSON-LD is simpler, lower error rate
Implement HowTo schema expecting rich results	Fully deprecated
Implement FAQ schema expecting rich results	Fully deprecated May 2026 — no rich result for any site
Build deep architecture (4+ clicks)	Kills crawlability
Set <priority>/<changefreq> in sitemaps	Google ignores them completely
Use strict silos with zero cross-linking	Outdated; contextual cross-links between related topics are beneficial
Have thin content anywhere on site	Helpful Content is site-wide — weak sections hurt everything