How can a bakery plan a website structure that meets its business needs?

A bakery should first identify the products it actually sells, the services it offers, and its business strategy before deciding which website sections and pages it needs, rather than starting with a competitor’s categories. A proposed structure can draw on the existing website, the bakery’s product list, and competitors’ websites. It should then be reviewed with the bakery item by item, removing anything that does not apply. Whether a single landing page is enough also depends on whether the website promotes one specific product or covers multiple products and services.

Clarify the business offering before deciding whether one page is enough

In the Edelweiss Bakery case study published by Semrush in 2021, the original website consisted of a single landing page. The article suggested that this format might suit the promotion of one specific product but was insufficient for that bakery’s broader range of products and services. This was a judgment about that particular case, not a basis for concluding that every bakery needs a multipage website.

Before mapping out the structure, confirm the following with the bakery:

• Which actual products and services need to appear on the website?
• Should the website focus on promoting a specific product or present multiple business offerings?
• Which proposed content does not fit the bakery’s business strategy and should be excluded?

The agency in the case study used the client’s list of products and services to add sections missing from the original website, rather than relying solely on existing pages.

Take stock of existing sections without treating the product list as the structure

The case study began by transferring the existing website’s sections into an easily editable structure diagram, explicitly distinguishing between sections and individual products. Planning therefore requires separating “how the website currently categorizes its content” from “what the bakery actually sells,” then using the latter to check whether the former is adequate.

The review can start with the HTML sitemap, main navigation menu, tags, and filters. If the original website has only one page, as in the case study, there is little existing structure to reuse, making the product and service list even more important as a basis for adding sections.

Use competitors to identify gaps, not to copy everything

Competitors’ websites can help uncover categories missing from the initial draft, but their structure may not be clear from the homepage alone. In the case study, the agency examined competitors’ sitemaps, then reviewed their menus, filters, and tags individually to expand the proposed structure.

For example, the article cited a competitor with separate sections for different product types as an example of logical navigation. The useful reference is the categorization approach, not every page on that website. The case study also aimed to cover potential entry points, suggesting that a more comprehensive structure could create more opportunities to reach relevant users; this does not mean that more pages will necessarily generate traffic.

Review the proposed list with the bakery and refine it item by item

Once the initial draft is complete, it still needs to be reviewed with the bakery. In the case study, the structure diagram was converted into a spreadsheet to review the category hierarchy and page list. Irrelevant sections were then removed so that the final structure aligned with the actual products, services, and business strategy.

A category found on a competitor’s website is therefore only a proposal to be reviewed. If the bakery has no corresponding offering, the category should not be retained simply to make the website look comprehensive. First identify potential gaps, then remove what does not apply: that is the planning sequence this case study offers as a reference.