TP-Link US Website Redesign · Discovery Phase
EN中文 v1.0 · 2026-05-14
Discovery Phase · Information Architecture Research

Eight websites, ten dimensions,
one structural argument
for TP-Link.

A source-level read of how Apple, Eero, DJI, Samsung, Toyota, Google Nest, 360 and Insta360 organize their websites — captured as screenshots, sitemap inventories, DOM nav graphs and SEO/AI-indexability signals — and translated into a current-state audit and recommended IA for the TP-Link US redesign launching at CES 2027.

Five things that surfaced

Cross-brand patterns the redesign should treat as evidence, not opinion. Each is grounded in measurable source-level signals across at least three of the eight sites studied.

  1. TP-Link's IA is structurally biased toward support. Of TP-Link US's 4,359 indexable URLs, 2,471 (57%) live under /support/; including user-guides, configuration-guides and document the figure climbs to ≈ 70%. Eero's entire indexable inventory is 48 URLs. The PRD's "43–50% of traffic goes to Support" finding is not a user-preference observation — it is what the IA itself biases toward.data: tp-link.com/us/sitemap.xml · eero.com/sitemap.xml
  2. Top-nav lean is the single sharpest separator. Eero exposes 24 navigational links; TP-Link exposes 263. Apple uses 275 but routes them through one mega-menu structure. The story-led brands collapse to a flat 4–6 primary categories; the SKU-led brands explode link counts in the chrome and bury the brand.DOM: document.querySelectorAll('header a, nav a').length
  3. TP-Link's HTML has zero modular structure. The homepage uses <section> = 0, <article> = 0, <aside> = 0 — only one <main>. Samsung uses 12 <section> blocks; Nest uses 75 sections + 78 articles. Without semantic chunking, both LLM crawlers and assistive tech read TP-Link as a single undifferentiated blob.DOM extract per site
  4. llms.txt is the new robots.txt — and only Eero and Samsung have shipped it. 2 of 9 sites studied serve a valid llms.txt. Eero's is 30 lines of plain marketing prose; Samsung's is a structured directory of regional sites. TP-Link returns 404. Cost-to-implement: one text file. Ship-by-CES probability: trivial.curl /llms.txt across 9 sites
  5. TP-Link's robots.txt declares the Netherlands sitemap as canonical. https://www.tp-link.com/robots.txt currently lists Sitemap: https://www.tp-link.com/nl/sitemap.xml. The US sitemap exists at /us/sitemap.xml (1 MB, 4,359 URLs) but is undeclared, hurting Google and LLM crawl coverage on the highest-revenue locale.curl https://www.tp-link.com/robots.txt

Methodology

Three layers of capture per site, run in parallel from a controlled environment on 2026-05-13. Every claim in this report can be reproduced from the captured data folder.

Visual
3 shots/site
Desktop hero · mobile (375 vw) · full-page scroll
DOM
8 fields
Nav-link count · semantic tags · JSON-LD · meta · framework · chat presence · visited via agent-browser eval
Source
5 endpoints
/robots.txt · /sitemap.xml · /llms.txt · /llms-full.txt · response headers
Limit
Insta360 served a Cloudflare interstitial; we recovered the visual + framework hint but not its full DOM or sitemap. Where data is unavailable a cell shows needs verification.

Brands studied

Eight competitors plus TP-Link itself. Each card jumps to its IA walkthrough. TP-Link's card is highlighted because it is both the subject and the benchmark.

Apple homepage full Apple Mac mega-menu
scroll ↓
Apple
apple.com
Single-product hero, mega-menu chrome, brand-led inventory across 846 URLs.
Eero homepage full Eero Products mega-menu
scroll ↓
Eero
eero.com
Direct competitor. 24 nav links, 48 URLs, Next.js, llms.txt shipped.
DJI homepage full DJI top nav (collapsed — async mega-menu)
scroll ↓
DJI
dji.com
Premium consumer hardware. Sitemap-index across 37 sub-sitemaps. mega-menu trigger blocked — collapsed view shown
Samsung homepage full Samsung Mobile mega-menu
scroll ↓
Samsung
samsung.com/us
Multi-line ecosystem play. 97 country sitemaps, llms.txt with regional index.
Toyota homepage full Toyota Vehicles side-mega-menu
scroll ↓
Toyota
toyota.com
Heritage multi-line. Carousel hero, 76-URL marketing sitemap (lean).
Google Nest homepage full Google Nest flat top nav (no mega-menu)
scroll ↓
Google Nest
store.google.com/.../nest
Smart-home benchmark inside the broader Google Store. 75 sections, 78 articles. flat nav, no mega-menu
360 homepage full
scroll ↓
360 (Qihoo)
360.cn
Chinese multi-brand security/tech portal. 484 raw links, no <nav> element. no mega-menu captured
⊘ Cloudflare interstitial — visual + framework only
Insta360
insta360.com
Lifestyle/product hybrid (consumer cameras). Angular SPA. DOM blocked

Structural matrix

Hard signals only — counts and presence flags pulled from sitemap.xml, DOM, and HTTP responses. This is the table that should drive Discovery Readout discussion. TP-Link row highlighted.

Brand Indexable URLs Top-nav links Semantic tags
(sec / art / aside)
JSON-LD types llms.txt Detected stack Site-wide chat Hero strategy
Apple
apple.com
846
depth 1–6
275
mega-menu
5 / 0 / 1 Organization · WebSite · WebPage custom support-scoped Single-product, brand-led
Eero
eero.com
48
flat
24
4 categories
2 / 4 / 0 FAQPage · WebPage Next.js Editorial copy + 1 product
DJI
dji.com
37×
sitemap-index
78
flat top-bar
6 / 0 / 0 custom Single product hero
Samsung
samsung.com/us
97×
country index
185
mega-menu
12 / 0 / 0 Corporation · WebSite · WebPage custom Single product (Galaxy S26)
Toyota
toyota.com
76
marketing only
272
mega-menu
5 / 1 / 0 WebPage custom Carousel + EV family
Nest
store.google.com
36×
country index
0
no <nav>
75 / 78 / 221 Organization custom (Google) Brand line + product grid
360 (Qihoo)
360.cn
no sitemap
0
484 raw <a>
0 / 0 / 0 legacy Promo grid
Insta360
insta360.com
CF blocked
Angular Lifestyle hero needs verification

Apple

apple.com●●●●●
Apple homepage hero
Indexable URLs
846
Top-nav links
275 (mega-menu)
Schema types
3 (Org, Site, Page)
llms.txt
404

IA walkthrough

Top chrome is a single horizontal strip with one entry per product line — Mac, iPad, iPhone, Watch, Vision Pro, AirPods, TV & Home, Entertainment, Accessories, Support — plus Store and a search affordance. Every primary noun resolves to a mega-menu that lists the top SKUs and a "compare" affordance, putting Category → PDP at exactly two clicks. Below the chrome the homepage devotes the entire above-the-fold to one product moment (currently MacBook Air on M5) with a maximum of two CTAs.
apple.com/ ├── /mac/ # category landing │ ├── /mac/macbook-air/ # PDP │ ├── /mac/macbook-pro/ │ └── /mac/which-mac/ # compare tool ├── /iphone/ ├── /ipad/ ├── /watch/ ├── /vision/ ├── /airpods/ ├── /tv-home/ ├── /shop/ # cart, financing, trade-in └── /support/ ~10% of total inventory
Takeaway for TP-Link Apple proves that a 275-link chrome doesn't break IA — provided every link routes through one consistent mega-menu and the homepage refuses to broadcast the catalog. The discipline isn't fewer links; it's where they live.

Eero

eero.com●●●●●
Eero homepage hero
Indexable URLs
48
Top-nav links
24 (4 primary)
Schema types
FAQPage, WebPage
llms.txt
200 · 30 lines

IA walkthrough

Eero is the most aggressive lean IA in the set. The chrome resolves to four primary categories — Products, eero Plus, Why eero, Professional Solutions — and a "Find your eero" CTA. The full sitemap exposes 48 URLs total, with /shop/ holding 15 (the product line), /legal/ nine, and three whitepapers. Every product page is one click from the homepage. The hero ("It's not you, it's your wifi.") is a brand statement, not a product pitch.
eero.com/ ├── /products/ # overview ├── /shop/ # 15 SKU pages, all 1-click from / │ ├── /shop/eero-7/ │ ├── /shop/eero-pro-7/ │ └── /shop/eero-business/ ├── /eero-plus/ # subscription ├── /why-eero/ # brand story ├── /professional/ ├── /support/ redirected to support.eero.com (separated) └── /legal/ # 9 URLs, hidden in footer

Standout pattern

Support is on a separate subdomain (support.eero.com), keeping it out of the main IA inventory. This is the inverse of TP-Link's structure, where support dominates 70% of the catalog and intercepts the brand journey.
Takeaway for TP-Link Eero is the proof that a brand can sell technical hardware with 48 URLs. The PRD's "≤2 clicks to product" target only works if the IA is small enough to navigate without a quiz. Decoupling Support to a subdomain is the single largest structural lever available to TP-Link.

DJI

dji.com●●●●○
DJI homepage hero
Indexable URLs
37 sub-sitemaps
Top-nav links
78
Schema types
none
llms.txt
404

IA walkthrough

DJI runs a flat top-bar — Camera Drones, Handheld, Power, Specialized, Explore, Support, Where to Buy — under which categories expand to PDP grids without intermediate landing fluff. The hero is a single product (Mavic 3 Pro) with two CTAs and no promotional banner. Buy paths route into a native first-party cart. Sitemap is segmented across 37 sub-sitemaps via sitemap-index — a useful pattern for a catalog the size of TP-Link's.
Takeaway for TP-Link Adopt sitemap-index as the canonical pattern: one index, sub-sitemaps for products / support / press / blog. Lets crawlers parallelize without each section bleeding into the others' inventory.

Samsung

samsung.com/us●●●●○
Samsung homepage hero
Indexable URLs
97 country sitemaps
Top-nav links
185 (mega)
Schema types
3 incl. Corporation
llms.txt
200 · regional index

IA walkthrough

Samsung is the closest analogue to TP-Link's multi-line problem — Galaxy, TV/AV, Home Appliances, Computing, Displays, Memory, Accessories all sit under one chrome. They unify visually through a single typographic system and a near-identical mega-menu pattern across categories. Twelve <section> blocks on the homepage signal heavy modular structure. llms.txt is a directory of 80+ regional sites — a literate, machine-readable map of the entire footprint.
Takeaway for TP-Link For multi-brand handling (Deco vs Archer vs Tapo vs Omada), Samsung's pattern translates directly: one mega-menu structure, one type system, sub-brand color/photography variation contained inside the cards. Don't visually merge sub-brands; structurally unify their scaffolding.

Toyota

toyota.com●●●○○
Toyota homepage hero
Indexable URLs
76 (marketing)
Top-nav links
272
Schema types
WebPage
llms.txt
404

IA walkthrough

Toyota separates marketing/brand from inventory: the public sitemap holds just 76 URLs, all marketing and content pages — actual vehicle inventory and dealership flow live in a separate IA reachable via "Shop". The hero rotates between EV family shots and seasonal campaigns. The chrome is two-tier: top utility bar (account, account, support) and a dense category bar.
Takeaway for TP-Link Treat the marketing site and the support catalog as two distinct IA scopes — Toyota's clean separation is what allows their marketing chrome to feel curated even at this brand's age and breadth.

Google Nest

store.google.com/category/google_nest●●●●○
Google Nest homepage hero
Indexable URLs
36 country sitemaps
Top-nav links
0 (router-driven)
Schema types
Organization
llms.txt
404

IA walkthrough

Nest is hosted under store.google.com — Google's pattern is to nest verticals as "categories" of the main store rather than carve out separate sites. The Nest landing leads with a brand line ("A smarter, safer, more helpful home.") followed by a product grid (Cameras, Doorbells, Speakers, Thermostats, Streaming, Displays). The page uses 75 <section> and 78 <article> tags — extreme modular structure that supports machine reading despite zero <nav> elements (chrome is via Google Store header).
Takeaway for TP-Link Smart-home category page should lead with brand line + product-type grid (Cameras / Doorbells / Plugs / Hubs), not SKU. Nest also confirms semantic <section>/<article> markup is a machine-readability pattern, not just a styling exercise.

360 (Qihoo)

360.cn●○○○○
360 Qihoo homepage hero
Indexable URLs
no sitemap declared
Top-nav links
0 <nav> · 484 <a>
Schema types
none
llms.txt
404

IA walkthrough

The legacy comparison case. 360.cn ships zero semantic chrome (no <nav>, no <header>, no <section>) and 484 raw anchor tags arranged as a promo grid. There is no machine-readable sitemap. The visual experience is dense product cards and corporate enterprise links interleaved without hierarchy.
Anti-pattern
This is the version of TP-Link the redesign exists to leave behind: a portal that crawls poorly and reads visually as "everything we make, all at once." Cited here as the floor, not the model.

Insta360

insta360.com●●●○○ partial
Insta360 — Cloudflare interstitial captured
Indexable URLs
CF blocked
Top-nav links
CF blocked
Schema types
Detected stack
Angular

IA walkthrough

Insta360's site is gated by a Cloudflare managed challenge for non-residential traffic, which blocked the structured capture pass. The framework hint (Angular SPA) and the chat presence are recoverable; the IA tree is not. Recommended follow-up: a manual on-device session with screen-recording for IA reconstruction, then merge into v2 of this report. needs verification

Adoption matrix

competitor pattern → TP-Link decision

Each competitor pattern is one row. Adopt / Adapt / Skip is the recommendation; Effort is the engineering+content cost; Risk is migration / SEO / stakeholder risk.

PatternFromFor TP-LinkDecisionEffortRisk
Single-product brand-led hero with ≤2 CTAs apple.com
eero.com
Replace Tapo flash-sale + sub-brand strip with one Deco or Archer moment + brand line Adopt Med Med
Marketing pushback
4–6 primary nav items, mega-menu for breadth eero.com
apple.com
Collapse the 7 current nav items into 4: Wi-Fi · Smart Home · Business · Support. Sub-brands live inside mega-menus, not in the chrome. Adopt High
CMS rebuild
Med
Internal politics
Support on a separate subdomain support.eero.com Move /us/support/ to support.tp-link.com. Removes 70% URL pollution from the brand IA without losing content. Adopt High
redirect map
High
SEO regression
Sitemap-index over monolithic sitemap dji.com
samsung.com
Split /us/sitemap.xml into products.xml, support.xml, press.xml, blog.xml. Add an index. Adopt Low
CMS export
Low
Semantic <section>/<article> chunking samsung.com
nest.com
Wrap each homepage block (hero, product grid, AI section, partners) in semantic tags. Required for AI-indexability KPI in PRD §2.3. Adopt Low
template change
Low
llms.txt at root eero.com
samsung.com
Publish a 30-line brand/product description at /llms.txt. CES-ready, no engineering cycles. Adopt Low
copywriting
Low
Organization + Product JSON-LD apple.com
samsung.com
Add Organization, WebSite, Product schema to homepage and PDPs. Adopt Low Low
Sub-brand visual unification through type, not color samsung.com
dji.com
Solves PRD §2.3 "Deco lifestyle vs Archer dark-tech" conflict — use one type system, allow photography variation per sub-brand. Adopt Med
design system
Med
brand alignment
Site-wide AI shopping assistant in chrome tp-link (Areal)
insta360, 360
Areal already exists — keep it but elevate to chrome-level placement (not embedded in product card). Adapt Low Low
Brand line above product grid on category pages nest.com "A smarter, safer, more helpful home." pattern — single brand line, then product-type grid. Apply to /smart-home/ as Tapo replacement landing. Adopt Low Low
Carousel hero with rotating campaigns toyota.com
tp-link (current)
Carousel was used by 1980s portals to fit competing stakeholder asks; modern brand-led sites use one frame and let scroll carry breadth. Skip
"Everything visible in chrome" portal 360.cn The current TP-Link pattern, rejected. Skip

Recommended IA · v1

tp-link.com/us · CES 2027 target

Synthesis of the eight competitor patterns mapped onto TP-Link's actual product portfolio. Discovery Readout decision target. Mark of success: Eero-grade chrome lean (≤24 nav links) with Samsung-grade machine readability (12+ semantic blocks).

Proposed top-level chrome (4 primary, 1 utility)

tp-link.com/us/ # single brand homepage, no promo bar ├── /wifi/ # Deco + Archer + Mesh + Range extenders │ ├── /wifi/deco/ # Deco brand landing │ ├── /wifi/archer/ # Archer brand landing │ ├── /wifi/mesh/ # comparison + buying guide │ └── /wifi/wifi-8/ # Wi-Fi 8 narrative for CES ├── /smart-home/ # Tapo (cameras, plugs, sensors, doorbells) ├── /business/ # Omada line └── /service-providers/ # Aginet line Utility: ├── Search # global, opens Areal AI as default action └── support.tp-link.com # subdomain, NOT in chrome Removed from chrome: ✕ Partner Program → footer link ✕ Security News → /support/security/ ✕ Sub-brand logo strip → mega-menu cards inside /wifi/ and /smart-home/
Why this works
Reduces the 7-item current chrome to 4 primary categories. Sub-brands (Tapo, Deco, Archer, Omada, Aginet) appear as products inside categories, not as parallel logos. Support is decoupled to a subdomain — removing 70% of inventory pollution without losing content. Areal AI moves from product-card inset to global utility.

Per-template rules (modular CMS prep)

TemplateHero ruleSemantic blocks (min)SchemaAI placement
Homepage 1 product moment + 1 brand line, 2 CTAs max, no carousel, no promo bar 5 <section>: hero, brand-prove, category-grid, ai-band, footer-bridge Organization, WebSite, ItemList Search bar = Areal entry
Category (e.g. /wifi/) Brand line + product-type grid (Nest pattern) 1 hero + 1 grid + 1 compare + 1 spec-band ItemList, BreadcrumbList "Help me choose" → Areal
PDP 1 product image, 1 spec block, 1 buy band, 1 compare CTA 5+: hero, specs, in-the-box, compare, support-bridge Product, Offer, AggregateRating "Ask about Deco BE65" → Areal
Campaign (Wi-Fi 8 / CES) Editorial layout, long-scroll, single narrative arc ≥6 sections (chapter pattern) Article, BreadcrumbList End-of-page Areal CTA
Landing (sub-theme) Topic introduction → product bridge 3+ sections WebPage, BreadcrumbList Sidebar Areal trigger

Click-path target vs current

Current · Home → PDP
3–4 clicks
Eero benchmark
1 click
Apple benchmark
2 clicks
Recommended target
≤2 clicks

Five quick wins TP-Link can ship before Discovery Readout

All five are source-level fixes — no design system, no CMS migration. Each is reversible and would survive into v1 of the redesign.

QW-01 · 1 PR
Fix robots.txt sitemap declaration
Add Sitemap: https://www.tp-link.com/us/sitemap.xml to /robots.txt. Currently declares Netherlands sitemap. Immediate Google + LLM crawl coverage on the highest-revenue locale.
Owner: Elena (SEO)·Effort: hours
QW-02 · 1 file
Publish /llms.txt at root
30 lines describing brand, product lines, audiences, key features. Eero pattern. Becomes the canonical TP-Link summary that Claude / ChatGPT / Perplexity cite.
Owner: Marketing + UX·Effort: 2 hours
QW-03 · 1 template
Wrap homepage blocks in <section>
Add semantic chunking to the existing template. Zero visual change, immediate AI-indexability gain. Required for PRD §2.3 KPI.
Owner: Chuck (FE)·Effort: 1 day
QW-04 · 1 JSON-LD block
Add Organization schema
Logo, founding, address, contact, social handles, sameAs. Apple/Samsung pattern. Surfaces TP-Link as an entity to search and LLM agents.
Owner: Chuck + SEO·Effort: hours
QW-05 · sitemap split
Adopt sitemap-index pattern
Split monolithic sitemap into products.xml, support.xml, press.xml, blog.xml. DJI / Samsung pattern. Lets crawlers parallelize, isolates sections.
Owner: Lucas (BE)·Effort: 1 day

Appendix

Captured data

All raw captures stored under the project's data/<brand>/ and screenshots/ folders. Each brand has: index.html (raw), sitemap.xml, robots.txt, llms.txt (or 404 marker), headers.txt, dom_extract.json. Capture date 2026-05-13.

Tools

curl for source-level capture (parallel, 8 workers). agent-browser (Playwright/CDP) for screenshots and DOM extraction. python3 for sitemap parsing. No external services. All artifacts reproducible from the scripts in scripts/.

References

  • TP-Link US Website Redesign · PRD v0.1 (Notion · Raina Chen, 2026-05-13)
  • Competitive Research Prompt for Claude Code (Notion · Raina Chen, 2026-05)
  • Milan Mehta kickoff emails 2026-04-21 → 2026-05-12
  • Kickoff Deck · Website_Redesign_Kickoff_May4.html (SharePoint)

Open questions for Discovery Readout (5/22)

  1. Decoupling Support to a subdomain: SEO regression vs IA gain — what is Elena's risk read?
  2. Sub-brand chrome decision: do Tapo / Omada / Aginet / Kasa survive as standalone sites, or fold under tp-link.com/us with mega-menu? (Affects Marketing org structure.)
  3. Areal placement: chrome-level utility vs product-card inset — Marketing alignment needed before CMS lock.
  4. Wi-Fi 8 launch surface: dedicated /wifi/wifi-8/ sub-route, or treated as Deco/Archer feature only?
  5. Carousel: kill it, or retain for Marketing campaign rotation? (Recommendation here is kill; needs PJ alignment.)