diff --git a/docs/analytics.md b/docs/analytics.md
index 3e4284c..59ec41e 100644
--- a/docs/analytics.md
+++ b/docs/analytics.md
@@ -416,8 +416,15 @@ by a top lane labeled 🏠︎ beside the home pill (50% thicker than
 the branch lanes, its label font and guide offset scaled along), each item's
 subtree fanning out below it in menu order along a large-radius circular
 arc that leaves heading
-straight down and gradually bends right, index pages without views omitted
-and their children promoted in their place. The submenu structure is drawn
+straight down and gradually bends right. Every page of the tree is shown
+whether or not it had views in the window — only index pages without
+content of their own (category labels and empty pages — the ones the
+navigation itself bypasses in favor of the first child) are omitted,
+their children
+promoted in their place, the first visible child taking the slot. Paths
+the traffic names but the tree no longer has (deleted pages) are
+inserted as ghosts where they would have been, missing ancestors
+materialized as category lanes. The submenu structure is drawn
 as wide branch lanes: one per path prefix with at least two visible
 nodes, running behind the branch's node pills as circle arcs concentric
 with the fan (parent levels one radius step outward, so all lanes of a
diff --git a/frontend/src/StructureTree.vue b/frontend/src/StructureTree.vue
index 4d47e82..882f51f 100644
--- a/frontend/src/StructureTree.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/StructureTree.vue
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 <script setup>
 // Recursive site-structure tree with drag-and-drop ordering (vue-draggable).
 // Nodes come from the server (GET /_api/pages via StructureEditor.vue) as
-// {slug, path, title, translated, order, published, has_content, language,
+// {slug, path, title, translated, order, published, has_content, empty,
+// language,
 // primary, children}. The row's flag
 // (LangSelect) sets the node's primary language (language; '' = inherit —
 // dimmed, showing the resolved flag); the setting covers the whole subtree.
diff --git a/frontend/src/analytics/transitions.js b/frontend/src/analytics/transitions.js
index 7862996..106a15f 100644
--- a/frontend/src/analytics/transitions.js
+++ b/frontend/src/analytics/transitions.js
@@ -3,11 +3,16 @@
  *
  * Site map following the menu structure: top-level items in a row at the
  * top (below the external source row), each item's subtree fanning out
- * below it in menu order along a slightly circular downward arc. Index
- * pages with no views are omitted, their children moving up in their
- * place. All pages of the site are shown (from /_api/pages), plus any
- * extra paths seen in transitions (deleted pages); these form their own
- * top-level groups. Internal path -> path transitions join opposite
+ * below it in menu order along a slightly circular downward arc. Every
+ * page of the site is shown (from /_api/pages), whether or not it had
+ * views in the window — only index pages without content of their own
+ * (category labels and empty pages — the ones the site navigation itself
+ * bypasses in favor of the first child) are omitted, their children
+ * moving up in their place, the first visible child taking the slot.
+ * Paths the traffic
+ * names but the tree no longer has (deleted pages) are inserted as
+ * ghosts where they would have been, materializing missing ancestors as
+ * content-less category lanes. Internal path -> path transitions join opposite
  * directions into straight connections (middle width = total
  * count; connectors flare into the node pills at both ends and wrap
  * around their backs, surrounding them; the pills are drawn on top). Connection width grows
@@ -153,33 +158,6 @@ const MAX_EXT_IN = 8 // referer nodes in the top row
 const MAX_EXT_OUT = 12 // exit nodes in the bottom row
 const EXT_GAP = 12 // vertical margin of the source/exit rows to the map
 
-/** Flatten the site tree into navigation order via DFS. */
-function buildNavigationOrder(pageTree) {
-  const order = new Map()
-  const walk = (items) => {
-    for (const item of items || []) {
-      const p = `/${item.path}`
-      if (!order.has(p)) order.set(p, order.size)
-      walk(item.children)
-    }
-  }
-  walk(pageTree)
-  return order
-}
-
-/** Map page paths to their article titles from the site tree. */
-function buildTitleMap(pageTree) {
-  const titles = new Map()
-  const walk = (items) => {
-    for (const item of items || []) {
-      titles.set(`/${item.path}`, item.title)
-      walk(item.children)
-    }
-  }
-  walk(pageTree)
-  return titles
-}
-
 /** Extract internal page-to-page transitions, excluding self-loops. */
 function collectInternalTransitions(transitions) {
   const internal = []
@@ -222,43 +200,70 @@ function collectExitPairs(transitions) {
   return [...pairs.values()]
 }
 
-/** Build nodes with depth and a path lookup map; children are wired to parents. */
-function buildNodeTree(internal, navOrder) {
-  const paths = new Set(['/', ...navOrder.keys()])
-  for (const e of internal) { paths.add(e.fr); paths.add(e.to) }
+/**
+ * Build the node tree: every page of the current site tree (from
+ * /_api/pages), nested by URL and ordered by the menu, plus a ghost for
+ * every path the traffic names but the tree no longer has (deleted or
+ * renamed pages). A ghost is inserted where it would have been: under
+ * its URL parent, with missing ancestors materialized as content-less
+ * ghost categories — never drawn themselves, their children move up in
+ * their place and they still define branch lanes, exactly like live
+ * index pages without content (see annotateNodes/layoutGroups).
+ * Ghost pills sort after the real siblings, alphabetically among
+ * themselves (their original menu position is unknowable).
+ */
+function buildNodeTree(pageTree, extraPaths) {
+  // The front page anchors the map and is always shown, even with no
+  // views in the window (and even when the site has no front page node).
+  const root = { path: '/', depth: 0, title: '', content: true, ghost: false, children: [] }
+  const byPath = new Map([['/', root]])
+  const nodes = [root]
 
-  const depth = (p) => (p === '/' ? 0 : p.split('/').length - 1)
-  const nodes = [...paths].map((p) => ({
-    path: p, depth: depth(p), angle: 0, children: [],
-  }))
-  const byPath = new Map(nodes.map((n) => [n.path, n]))
-
-  // Parent is the nearest ancestor present in the map, front page last.
-  const parentOf = (p) => {
-    let q = p
-    while (q !== '/') {
-      q = q.slice(0, q.lastIndexOf('/')) || '/'
-      if (byPath.has(q)) return byPath.get(q)
+  const walk = (items, parent) => {
+    for (const item of items || []) {
+      const p = `/${item.path}`
+      let n = byPath.get(p) // the front page item (path "") maps to "/"
+      if (!n) {
+        n = {
+          path: p, depth: parent.depth + 1, title: '',
+          content: !item.empty, ghost: false, children: [],
+        }
+        byPath.set(p, n)
+        parent.children.push(n)
+        nodes.push(n)
+      }
+      n.title = item.title
+      walk(item.children, n)
     }
-    return byPath.get('/')
   }
-  for (const n of nodes) {
-    if (n.path !== '/') parentOf(n.path).children.push(n)
+  walk(pageTree, root)
+
+  // Ghosts: placed under their URL parent, materializing missing
+  // ancestors as content-less ghost categories (not drawn; their
+  // children move up and they still define branch lanes).
+  const materialize = (p) => {
+    let n = byPath.get(p)
+    if (n) return n
+    const parent = materialize(p.slice(0, p.lastIndexOf('/')) || '/')
+    n = { path: p, depth: parent.depth + 1, title: '', content: false, ghost: true, children: [] }
+    byPath.set(p, n)
+    parent.children.push(n)
+    nodes.push(n)
+    return n
+  }
+  for (const p of extraPaths) {
+    const n = materialize(p)
+    if (n.ghost) n.content = true // traffic seen: show the pill
   }
 
-  return { nodes, byPath, root: byPath.get('/') }
-}
-
-/** Sort each node's children by navigation order, recursively. */
-function sortByNav(root, navOrder) {
-  const byNav = (a, b) =>
-    (navOrder.get(a.path) ?? Infinity) - (navOrder.get(b.path) ?? Infinity)
-    || a.path.localeCompare(b.path)
-  const walk = (n) => {
-    n.children.sort(byNav)
-    n.children.forEach(walk)
+  // Real siblings keep menu order; ghosts follow them, alphabetical.
+  const sortChildren = (n) => {
+    n.children.sort((a, b) => (a.ghost - b.ghost) || (a.ghost ? a.path.localeCompare(b.path) : 0))
+    n.children.forEach(sortChildren)
   }
-  walk(root)
+  sortChildren(root)
+
+  return { nodes, byPath, root }
 }
 
 /** Compute median reading time per article in seconds. */
@@ -283,7 +288,7 @@ function buildReadSeconds(visits) {
 }
 
 /** Compute view counts, labels and hidden flags for each node. */
-function annotateNodes(nodes, viewsData, titles, readSeconds) {
+function annotateNodes(nodes, viewsData, readSeconds) {
   const viewCount = (p) => {
     let n = 0
     for (const c of Object.values(viewsData?.[p] || {})) n += c
@@ -294,12 +299,17 @@ function annotateNodes(nodes, viewsData, titles, readSeconds) {
     n.views = viewCount(n.path)
     n.readSec = readSeconds[n.path] || 0
     // Article title inside the pill (clipped at the pill border on
-    // render), slug as fallback for pages missing from the site tree.
-    n.label = titles.get(n.path) || (n.path === '/' ? '🏠︎' : n.path.split('/').pop())
-    n.title = titles.get(n.path) || ''
-    // Category (non-leaf) pages with no views in this window are omitted:
-    // their children move up in their place (see layoutGroups).
-    n.hidden = n.children.length > 0 && n.views === 0
+    // render), slug as fallback for ghost pages missing from the tree.
+    n.label = n.title || (n.path === '/' ? '🏠︎' : n.path.split('/').pop())
+    // Index pages without content of their own — category labels (404
+    // placeholders), empty pages and materialized ghost categories — are
+    // the nodes the site navigation itself bypasses in favor of the first
+    // child page, so they are omitted from the map too, their children
+    // moving up in their place (see layoutGroups). A childless empty page
+    // is a real navigation stop and stays, and every real page stays
+    // whether or not it had views in the window: the map always shows
+    // the full site structure.
+    n.hidden = !n.content && n.children.length > 0
   }
 }
 
@@ -953,15 +963,19 @@ export function buildTransitionGraph(data, pageTree, visits = [], dayScale = 1)
   const internal = collectInternalTransitions(data?.transitions)
   const sources = collectSourcePairs(visits)
   const exits = collectExitPairs(data?.transitions)
-  const navOrder = buildNavigationOrder(pageTree)
-  const titles = buildTitleMap(pageTree)
   const readSeconds = buildReadSeconds(visits)
 
-  if (!internal.length && !navOrder.size) return null
+  // Every internal path the traffic names, for ghost placement:
+  // transition endpoints, plus pages with views but no internal
+  // transition (entries from outside — a deleted page still visited).
+  const extraPaths = new Set()
+  for (const e of internal) { extraPaths.add(e.fr); extraPaths.add(e.to) }
+  for (const p of Object.keys(data?.views || {})) extraPaths.add(p)
 
-  const { nodes, byPath, root } = buildNodeTree(internal, navOrder)
-  sortByNav(root, navOrder)
-  annotateNodes(nodes, data?.views, titles, readSeconds)
+  if (!pageTree?.length && !extraPaths.size) return null
+
+  const { nodes, byPath, root } = buildNodeTree(pageTree, extraPaths)
+  annotateNodes(nodes, data?.views, readSeconds)
   const { arcs, arcLeft } = layoutGroups(root)
   const placed = nodes.filter((n) => !n.hidden)
   const pairs = aggregatePairs(internal)
diff --git a/pagerite/api.py b/pagerite/api.py
index be66e66..530b9db 100644
--- a/pagerite/api.py
+++ b/pagerite/api.py
@@ -65,6 +65,10 @@ async def list_pages(lang: str | None = None) -> list[dict]:
     Nested by slug; each node carries its full path, menu order, flags and
     language settings (``language`` is the node's own primary-language
     setting, "" = inherit; ``primary`` is the resolved effective one).
+    ``has_content`` tells whether a landing page exists at all (even an
+    empty one — the structure editor offers deleting it); ``empty`` is the
+    navigation's notion: no content of its own (None or empty markdown),
+    so nav links bypass the node to its first child page.
     With a ``?lang=`` translation, titles come out in that language where a
     translation exists (``translated`` flags it — true trivially for rows
     whose primary language IS the selected one; other rows fall back to
@@ -88,6 +92,10 @@ async def list_pages(lang: str | None = None) -> list[dict]:
                     "order": node.order,
                     "published": node.published,
                     "has_content": node.chunks is not None,
+                    # No content of its own (None or empty markdown): the
+                    # navigation bypasses the node, linking its first child
+                    # page instead (views nav_html/first_leaf).
+                    "empty": not node.chunks,
                     "language": node.language,
                     "primary": primary,
                     "children": dump(node.children, path, primary),