I have a question about information architecture regarding the redesign of a small (50 page) professional services B2B site. This client will have about 15-20 pages on their different services which all relate to managing energy. You can buy individual elements of their service such as procurement or go for the full service bells and whistles. I havent finished working out the journeys that the different audiences will take as yet but as its quite a simple site Im wondering if there is value in adding folders to create a hierarchy or whether Im just as well keeping all service pages at the top level of domain.com/service1 and domain.com/service2 etc. It doesnt make sense to divide the services by type of energy eg electricity, water, gas etc as the service is exactly the same. Ill have a navigational path for that journey but Im thinking of the IA at the moment. Just for context, Im a lone consultant now having sold our digital marketing agency 2 years ago. I miss my hugely talented team who I could ask my dumb questions to so I really appreciate being in this website where I know the advice is always exceptional.
Alani Wheeler: 15-20 pages of their different services? Id ask: is it necessary to have that many? As an IA I tend to try to stick to 6-10 in a list, and Id attempt to organize the pages for those services into clusters based on the Buyer Persona and their Intent.
Paige Watts: Thanks David I am just in the process of planning it out so Ill keep that in mind. thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Kylee Gibson: yeah topical hubs, sub-topic silo paths and hierarchy of information are the primary considerations whenever mapping out content.
Paige Watts: Thanks Alan
Fernanda Welch: Probably any service descriptions under 150-200 words are best to consolidate into another page
Rowan Cortez: Hi Paige Watts: Courtney, your question was discussed by the Panel during Dumb SEO Questions HOA 268. Watch it on Youtube: Youtube.com Individual questions on our site: Dumbseoquestions.com us by offering a review: Google.com to our YouTube channel: Youtube.com us for questions from the Vault: Twitter.com you for your question.
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Kennedi Drake: It may make sense to consider how potential clients will search for and use this content rather than assume that theres no need for the same service in different industries. Some site might build a section based on the target industry, and then under that list each service. Just because they offer the same service in different industries doesnt necessarily mean that it is better to combine all of these under a single service page. I#m not saying youre wrong, but I would definitely think about searcher/user personas to determine how you should build the IA. Your client may be very happy that you build service pages by industry if it leads to increased visits/inquiries etc.. Its a pattern used regularly in B2B sector – where relevant you build for product, you build for customer role, and you build for industry. This can be further extended through localisation – build for language/country. Hope this helps.