Strategy & Planning

Sitemap: Old vs. New

A side-by-side comparison of the current learn.apmex.com architecture and the proposed rebuild structure - showing what we retain, what we restructure, and what gaps we fill.

Knowledge Center Rebuild learn.apmex.com audit Information Architecture October 2026

01 - At a Glance

The current site has good bones but shallow depth. Six top-level sections exist, but two are missing entirely (Storage, Glossary), Q&A articles are scattered with no aggregation layer, and there is no news or analysis section. The proposed architecture adds four new top-level sections, deepens the guide taxonomy, and introduces a Glossary and FAQ that anchor long-tail search traffic.

Current top-level sections

learn.apmex.com today

Proposed top-level sections

rebuilt architecture

New sections added

Storage, Encyclopedia, News, Glossary

Content gaps filled

FAQ aggregation, author attribution

New section or page (does not exist today)

Improved (exists but restructured or expanded)

Retained as-is

Problem or gap in current site

02 - Current Sitemap (learn.apmex.com)

Audited October 2026. Cloudflare Bot Management blocks automated crawlers, so depth was mapped from manual navigation, category page scans, and search index analysis. URL slugs shown are approximations based on page titles - actual WordPress slugs may vary.

learn.apmex.com

Current Architecture

6 top-level sections · ~200 estimated articles

Homepage /

Investing Guide

/investing-guide/

~70 articles

Gold Investing/gold-investing/

Silver Investing/silver-investing/

Platinum Investing/platinum-investing/

Palladium Investing/palladium-investing/

Portfolio Diversification/portfolio-diversification/

Precious Metals IRA/precious-metals-ira/

Gold-to-Silver Ratio/gold-silver-ratio/

Market Analysis/market-analysis/

Buying Guide

/buying-guide/

~55 articles

How to Buy Gold/how-to-buy-gold/

Gold Coins/gold-coins/

Gold Bars/gold-bars/

Silver Coins/silver-coins/

Silver Bars/silver-bars/

Platinum Products/platinum/

Palladium Products/palladium/

Numismatic Coins/numismatic/

Selling Guide

/selling-guide/

~25 articles

How to Sell/how-to-sell/

When to Sell/when-to-sell/

Sell Gold to APMEX/sell-gold/

Sell Silver to APMEX/sell-silver/

Price Calculation/price-calculation/

Video Center

/video-center/

~40 videos

Educational Videos/educational/

Market Update Videos/market-updates/

APMEX Series/apmex-series/

Tools & Calculators

/tools/

4 tools

Spot Price Calculator/spot-price/

Melt Value Calculator/melt-value/

Historical Price Charts/historical-prices/

Dollar Cost Averaging/dca-calculator/

Gaps in current architecture

⚠ No storage / vault guide ⚠ No glossary or terminology reference ⚠ No news or market commentary section ⚠ No FAQ aggregation - Q&As scattered across all guides ⚠ No author bylines or publish dates on articles ⚠ No Metal Encyclopedia (reference vs. guide content mixed)

apmex.com/learn/ → proposed

Rebuilt Architecture

10 top-level sections · 300+ articles target

Knowledge Center Homepage /learn/

Guides Restructured

/learn/guides/

Investing Guide improved/learn/guides/investing/

Getting Started

Gold Investing

Silver Investing

Platinum & Palladium

Portfolio Strategy

IRAs & Tax-Advantaged Accounts

Buying Guide/learn/guides/buying/

Selling Guide/learn/guides/selling/

Storage Guide new/learn/guides/storage/

Home Storage Safety

Professional Vault Services

IRA Custodian Storage

Insurance Considerations

Metal Encyclopedia New

/learn/encyclopedia/

Gold/learn/encyclopedia/gold/

Silver/learn/encyclopedia/silver/

Platinum/learn/encyclopedia/platinum/

Palladium/learn/encyclopedia/palladium/

Bullion vs. Numismatic/learn/encyclopedia/bullion-vs-numismatic/

Video Center Restructured

/learn/videos/

Tutorials/learn/videos/tutorials/

Market Updates/learn/videos/market/

Expert Interviews new/learn/videos/interviews/

Product Spotlights new/learn/videos/products/

Tools & Calculators Expanded

/learn/tools/

Spot Price Calculator/learn/tools/spot-price/

Melt Value Calculator/learn/tools/melt-value/

DCA Calculator enhanced/learn/tools/dca/

IRA Calculator new/learn/tools/ira/

Portfolio Builder new/learn/tools/portfolio/

News & Analysis New

/learn/news/

Market Commentary/learn/news/market/

Price Analysis/learn/news/prices/

Industry Reports/learn/news/reports/

FAQ New

/learn/faq/

Buying FAQ/learn/faq/buying/

Investing FAQ/learn/faq/investing/

Account & Order FAQ/learn/faq/account/

Glossary New

/learn/glossary/

A–Z terms with cross-links to related articles

03 - What Changes and Why

Section-by-section delta

Section	Status	What changes	Why it matters
Investing Guide	Improved	IRAs promoted to their own subsection; Getting Started added as entry point; content reorganized by reader intent rather than metal type	IRA buyers are APMEX's highest-value customers and currently have to hunt for the content
Buying Guide	Retained	Existing structure works - minor URL cleanup for SEO, product category pages stay the same	Current URLs rank for "how to buy gold" searches - preserve them with 301s
Selling Guide	Retained	Moves under /learn/guides/selling/; content unchanged	Low volume but important for trust - keep as-is
Storage Guide	New	Entirely new section: home storage, vault storage, IRA custodian storage, insurance - 10–15 articles	Storage is one of the top concerns new buyers have and is completely absent from the current site
Metal Encyclopedia	New	Reference section separate from guides - definitional content, history, industrial uses, market context for each metal	Separates "how do I invest in gold" (guide) from "what is gold" (encyclopedia) - better SEO targeting and cleaner IA
Video Center	Improved	Four subcategories instead of one flat list; Expert Interviews and Product Spotlights added as new series	Videos are high engagement but currently undiscoverable - no filters, no taxonomy
Tools & Calculators	Improved	IRA Calculator and Portfolio Builder added; DCA calculator gets allocations by metal and interactive chart	Tools drive repeat visits and email capture - highest ROI content type on precious metals sites
News & Analysis	New	Dedicated section for market commentary and price analysis; weekly cadence target	Gives buyers a reason to return; price analysis articles are high-intent search traffic
FAQ	New	Aggregates Q&A articles that currently live scattered across all guides; structured data markup for Google featured snippets	Q&A format already works on the current site - centralizing it captures featured snippet opportunities
Glossary	New	A–Z precious metals terminology with cross-links; structured data for Knowledge Panel eligibility	Long-tail SEO, trust signal for new buyers who don't know the terminology
Author Bylines	New (site-wide)	Every article gets author name, credentials, and publish/updated dates	Current site has no bylines - a major trust gap for a financial content site; Google E-E-A-T requires this for ranking
Related Articles	New (site-wide)	Algorithmic related content at the bottom of every article, cross-linking guides and encyclopedia entries	Reduces bounce rate and increases pages-per-session; currently each article is a dead end

04 - URL & Migration Strategy

Key URL changes

High-ranking current URLs must 301-redirect to new paths. Low-traffic URLs can be migrated without redirects. WordPress slugs will need cleanup regardless.

learn.apmex.com/ → apmex.com/learn/ merge into main domain

/investing-guide/gold-investing/ → /learn/guides/investing/gold/

/video-center/ → /learn/videos/

/tools/melt-value/ → /learn/tools/melt-value/ 301

Recommended: Merge into main domain

The current site runs on a subdomain (learn.apmex.com). Moving educational content to apmex.com/learn/ pools all domain authority into one root domain - a significant SEO advantage.

+All backlinks to learn.apmex.com pass equity to apmex.com after 301

+Internal links between shop pages and KC articles count as same-domain signals

+E-E-A-T signals amplified when financial content and commerce live on the same domain

!Requires coordination with apmex.com dev team - not a knowledge center decision alone