How does PowerMapper work out site structure TN-M36

PowerMapper bases site structure on links - and only shows a parent/child relationship between Page A and Page B if Page A contains a link to Page B.

Many pages have multiple links. For example, the Home page may show a best selling product, and the product is also listed on a product category page:

/index.html -> /products/productB/index.html
/products/index.html -> /products/productB/index.html

PowerMapper resolves this using several methods:

1. Using URL prefixes, so places /products/productA/index.html under /products/index.html because they both have the prefix /products/

2. Using navigation structure embedded in nested ul and ul elements to deduce parent / child relations:

   <ul>
       <li>Products
           <ul>
               <li>Product A</li>
               <li>Product B</li>
           </ul>
       </li>
   </ul>
   

3. When sites don’t encode site structure in the URLs or navigation PowerMapper falls back to using the first occurrence of a link as the parent.

Applies To: PowerMapper 5.0+

Last Reviewed: August 19, 2018