Site architecture for UK schools
Website Architecture for UK Schools: Crawlable Structure, Hubs & Indexation Control
Published by SEO for Schools • Author: Paul Delaney
A good structure helps two audiences: parents who want to complete tasks quickly, and search engines that need clear paths to discover and index your pages. This guide shows UK school and MAT teams how to design hub-and-spoke sections, reduce crawl waste, keep URLs clean, control what’s indexed, and measure improvements in Google Search Console. It is CMS-agnostic and uses plain English throughout.
Objectives & success measures
| Objective | Why it matters | Measure |
|---|---|---|
| Parents reach any key task in ≤3 clicks | Better UX, lower office call volume | Manual test + user feedback |
| 0 orphan pages in task areas | Google can discover and index all important pages | Crawl report |
| 1 canonical hub per task | Avoids duplicates and ranking dilution | URL inventory + redirects |
| Clean, descriptive URLs | Clarity for users; easier to share/read | Pattern check |
| Controlled indexation | Google spends time on valuable pages | Indexed pages vs submitted sitemap; coverage trends in GSC |
Architecture model: hubs, spokes & breadcrumbs
For schools, the most effective structure is hub-and-spoke with visible breadcrumbs:
Evergreen hubs
Single “home” for each task: Term Dates, Admissions, Absence, Safeguarding, Uniform, Contact. Hubs link to key spokes and receive links from Home, Parents hub and footer.
Spokes
Supporting pages like Admissions Timetable, In-Year Admissions, Sixth Form Entry Requirements. First paragraph links back to the hub.
Add breadcrumb navigation on every page so the path is obvious: Home → Parents → Admissions → Sixth Form. Mark up with BreadcrumbList structured data. References: Google — Breadcrumb structured data • GOV. UK — Content design.
URL design for schools
| Do | Why | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Use short, readable words | Shareable; aids comprehension | /admissions/, /term-dates/, /absence/ |
| Keep one URL per concept | Prevents duplicates | One /term-dates/ hub (not /calendar/ and /dates/) |
| Lowercase, hyphens, no spaces | Conventional; avoids encoding issues | /sixth-form/entry-requirements/ |
| Avoid dates in URLs for evergreen pages | Prevents annual redirects | Use heading for the year; keep URL static |
| Avoid query strings for core pages | Cleaner canonical signals | /admissions/ not /page?id=123 |
Crawlability: links, menus, JS and navigation
Google discovers pages by following crawlable links—standard <a href="…"> elements. Avoid relying on JavaScript “onclick” without an href. Ensure the main menu, breadcrumb and in-content links are crawlable and readable. References: Google — Make your links crawlable • JavaScript SEO basics.
| Area | What to check | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Navigation | Is the main menu HTML anchors (not JS only)? | Convert clickable divs to <a href>; keep text labels |
| In-content links | Do hubs and spokes link contextually? | Add text links near relevant copy |
| Footers | Are there plain-text links to Term Dates & Absence? | Add one clear text link each |
| Orphans | Any indexable pages with no internal links? | Link from the right hub or retire/redirect |
| JavaScript blocks | Are accordions/tabs hiding critical links? | Ensure links render in initial HTML where possible |
Indexation control: canonicals, robots, meta robots
Not every URL should be indexed. Keep Google focused on valuable content and avoid duplicate pages competing against each other.
Canonical tags
Use <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.example.sch.uk/admissions/"> to nominate the preferred URL where duplicates exist (e.g., print views, tracking params). Reference: Google — Consolidate duplicate URLs.
Robots directives
robots.txt controls crawling; meta robots controls indexing. Don’t block pages in robots.txt if you also need to noindex them—Google can’t see the meta tag if crawling is disallowed. Reference: Google — Robots.txt overview.
robots.txt example (safe starter)
User-agent: *Disallow: /wp-admin/Allow: /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php# Disallow system search and query dump pages (but keep real content indexable)Disallow: /searchDisallow: /*?s=Disallow: /*?replytocom=Sitemap: https://www.example.sch.uk/sitemap.xmlMeta robots examples
| Use case | Tag |
|---|---|
| Prevent indexing of a thank-you page | <meta name="robots" content="noindex,follow"> |
| Block both indexing and link following (rare) | <meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow"> |
XML sitemaps & HTML sitemaps
XML sitemaps help search engines discover URLs, but they don’t replace internal links. Include only canonical, index-worthy URLs. Submit in Search Console and reference in robots.txt. Consider a simple HTML “A–Z” or “Parents” hub for people. References: Google — Sitemaps overview.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"> <url><loc>https://www.example.sch.uk/admissions/</loc></url> <url><loc>https://www.example.sch.uk/term-dates/</loc></url> <url><loc>https://www.example.sch.uk/absence/</loc></url></urlset>Pagination & faceted navigation
For long lists (news, events), keep pagination crawl-friendly. Google no longer uses rel="next/prev" as an indexing signal; use strong internal links and a clear hub. For filterable lists (e.g., news by category), avoid indexable combinations that create thousands of thin pages; keep the canonical set to the unfiltered list or the hub. References: Google — Pagination update • Avoid creating duplicate content.
| Rule | Action |
|---|---|
| Keep one hub | “News” hub at /news/ with excerpts and links to pages 2, 3, … |
| Canonical to the main list | Paginated pages can self-canonical or point to /news/ (test which keeps more results discoverable) |
| Filters by tag/year | Prefer noindex,follow on filtered URLs or canonical to the main list |
| Important categories | Create curated category hubs (HTML pages) rather than relying on parameter URLs |
Scaling architecture across a MAT
Consistency across schools reduces confusion and makes governance simpler. Adopt shared patterns:
| Area | Policy | Owner | Cadence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core hubs | Every school has the same hub set: Admissions, Term Dates, Absence, Safeguarding, Uniform, Contact | Central SEO/Comms | Annual review |
| URL patterns | Use identical slugs where possible (e.g., /term-dates/) | Web managers | At build |
| Breadcrumbs | Home → Parents → Section → Page; BreadcrumbList markup | Dev/CMS | At build |
| Indexation | Shared robots.txt template; sitemaps per school; noindex thank-you pages | SEO/Dev | Quarterly |
| News/events | News posts always link to the relevant hub; hubs surface current items | Editors | Ongoing |
Measure with Search Console
/term-dates/) and compare matched calendar periods (Sept vs Sept) for impressions and CTR after structural changes. Reference: GSC — Performance report.Print-screen checklists & templates
Architecture QA — 14 Checks
Screenshot or print this card| 1. | One canonical hub per task (Admissions, Term Dates, Absence, Safeguarding, Uniform, Contact). |
| 2. | Hubs linked from Home, Parents hub and footer. |
| 3. | Spokes link back to hubs in the first paragraph. |
| 4. | Breadcrumbs visible and marked up with BreadcrumbList. |
| 5. | No orphan pages; crawl confirms ≥1 inlink per page. |
| 6. | URLs readable and stable (no dates for evergreen pages). |
| 7. | All core links are real <a href> elements (no click-only divs). |
| 8. | robots.txt allows crawling of indexable content. |
| 9. | Meta robots used appropriately for thank-you/filter pages. |
| 10. | XML sitemap contains only canonical, index-worthy URLs. |
| 11. | Pagination creates no thin, indexable parameter pages. |
| 12. | News/events link to relevant hubs; hubs surface current items. |
| 13. | Coverage issues in GSC reviewed and resolved. |
| 14. | Matched-period comparisons show CTR/impression uplift. |
robots.txt + Sitemap Template
Screenshot or print this cardUser-agent: *Disallow: /wp-admin/Allow: /wp-admin/admin-ajax.phpDisallow: /searchDisallow: /*?s=Sitemap: https://www.example.sch.uk/sitemap.xmlURL Pattern Library (Copy & Adapt)
Screenshot or print this card| Section | URL |
|---|---|
| Admissions hub | /admissions/ |
| Term dates | /term-dates/ |
| Absence | /absence/ |
| Safeguarding | /safeguarding/ |
| Uniform | /uniform/ |
| Contact | /contact/ |
FAQs
Will changing URLs hurt rankings?
Changing a stable URL can cause temporary volatility. Only change when you are consolidating duplicates or improving a confusing structure, and always set 301 redirects from old to new. Reference: Google — Site moves.
Do we need a sitemap if our internal links are strong?
Yes—sitemaps complement internal links and help with discovery, especially for large or newly updated sections. They do not guarantee indexing. Reference: Google — When sitemaps help.
Should we block /wp-admin/ and search results pages?
Block admin areas in robots.txt. For on-site search results and filtered views, prefer noindex,follow via meta robots rather than blocking in robots.txt, so Google can see the directive.
What about international pages?
Most UK schools don’t need hreflang. If you truly serve multiple languages/regions, use locale-specific pages and implement hreflang correctly. Reference: Google — Localized versions.
Need practical SEO support?
Speak With Paul Delaney
Paul Delaney helps schools turn complex SEO into simple, effective actions. As a guest writer for SEO for Schools, Paul shares step-by-step playbooks and evidence-based guidance that busy teams can apply immediately. With three decades’ experience working with UK and international institutions, he understands the challenges school teams face and is well positioned to offer support and guidance.
For our readers, Paul offers free 30-minute sessions for institutions exploring how to raise visibility, strengthen brand trust and streamline admissions. Sessions are practical, jargon-free and free from sales pressure. You can contact him using the buttons below—please mention SEOforSchools.co.uk.
