Homepage IA, Navigation & Trending-Scams Placement Recommendations

Recommendations to make ScamCheck's homepage the strongest possible authority + discovery hub for the scam content. The shipped Phase-25 links are the minimum; this is the target IA.

What shipped (baseline)

• Sidebar nav group Scam Intelligence → Scam Alerts (/scams) + Trending Hubs.
• Homepage hero CTA Scam Alerts + a 6-card module (latest, 4 tier-1 types, a trending hub).
• Result: every tier-1 scam hub is now ≤2 clicks (most 1); homepage passes link equity to 6 scam URLs.

Recommended homepage information architecture (priority order)

1. Hero — value prop + primary CTA. Add "Check a message" as the #1 action (utility hook) alongside Scam Alerts.
2. Live "Trending scams now" strip — above the fold, client-hydrated from the cached trending API (viral/active badges). Highest freshness + CTR signal. (Component exists: TrendingStrip.)
3. Scam Intelligence module — latest + tier-1 entities + trending hubs (shipped).
4. Browse by — quick links: by platform (WhatsApp/Telegram/SMS), by bank (SBI/HDFC…), by city (top 6). Spreads equity to facet clusters.
5. Seasonal hub spotlight — surfaces the in-season hub (festival/tax/election) when active (inSeasonHubs()).
6. Trust strip — "Cited sources: 1930 · cybercrime.gov.in · RBI · SEBI" + links to editorial-policy/methodology (E-E-A-T above the fold-ish).
7. Existing lab sections (tracks/failures/etc.) below.

Recommended future navigation structure

• Promote Scam Intelligence to the top of the sidebar (above Knowledge) — it's the primary public surface.
• Expand the group (still clean — ≤4 items):
  • Scam Alerts → /scams
  • Trending → /scams (trending strip anchor) or a future /scams/trending
  • By Platform → /scams/platform/whatsapp (gateway to facet set)
  • Hubs → flagship hub
• Top bar (mobile): keep a single persistent "Scam Alerts" entry + a search icon; do not add more than one scam item to the top bar to keep mobile clean.
• Add a footer column "Scam Alerts" listing tier-1 types + trust pages (footer links aid crawl without cluttering primary nav).

"Trending Scams" placement strategy

• Homepage: above-the-fold live strip (freshness + CTR) — the single highest-leverage placement.
• Every scam page: the in-page TrendingStrip (already shipped) for cross-discovery + dwell time.
• Widgets: the embeddable "latest scams" widget (already shipped) extends trending off-site → backlinks.
• Cadence: refreshed by the update-trending cron (materialized snapshot) → served from CDN cache → real-time feel, near-zero cost.
• Rule: trending must never cause CLS — render only after data loads (current behavior), reserve no fixed space when empty.

Recommended homepage CTR modules (ranked by expected lift)

1. "Check a message" input — paste-a-message utility box → routes to the checker. Converts intent → engagement; strongest CTR/retention driver.
2. Live trending strip — curiosity + freshness; high CTR to entity pages.
3. "Is this a scam?" quick-answer cards — tier-1 types as question cards ("Asked for your OTP?", "Got a KYC link?") → direct-answer pages (AI-Overview synergy).
4. Seasonal alert banner — time-sensitive ("Festival scams are rising") → seasonal hub.
5. Watchlist / email-alert prompt — retention capture (component exists: AlertSubscribe).
6. Regional cue — "Scams reported in your city" using coarse geo (no PII) → city facet pages.

Guardrails (verified)

• Mobile nav stays clean (one group, ≤2 items shipped; recommend ≤4).
• No CLS: all new homepage links are static server-rendered; trending/subscribe are client-lazy and render nothing until ready.
• Lighthouse unaffected: no new blocking JS; links are plain anchors.
• No orphans: homepage + hub + sitemap together reach every page; tier-1 ≤2 clicks.