How to split pages when the client has five different services

Most often, we stumble at the structure meeting, not the design. The client comes with five services they sell and assumes the site needs five pages, plus an "About us", plus contact. Sometimes it really does. Other times we end up with five pages saying the same thing in different words, and none of them rank on Google.

What we ask before drawing the map

The first question isn't "what services do you have", but "what does a person type into Google when they have the problem you solve". For a client who made joinery, we discovered that kitchen furniture and wardrobes are searched for completely separately, with different intentions: one asks for photos, the other asks for measurements and delivery time. Two other services on the list, however, weren't searched for at all as distinct terms — they only appeared as details in phone inquiries.

The second question is who writes the text. A good service page needs details only the client knows: materials, warranties, what happens during installation, what they refuse to do. If we can't get the information, the page turns out thin, no matter how good it looks.

The rule we use, with its exceptions

A service deserves its own page when it has separate demand in searches and when we can fill the page with details that don't repeat elsewhere. When only a single real paragraph can be gathered, we move it as a section within a larger page.

The exception: sometimes we create a separate page even if the term has few searches, because the service is the most profitable and we want a clear destination for ads. Here we don't rely on SEO, but on sending paid traffic there.

Where we went wrong

At a car repair shop, we combined three services into a single page, so as not to dilute the content. For two months, inquiries for one of them were almost zero, even though people were asking for it on the phone. We redid the structure and separated it, with photos from the workshop and entry-level prices that we asked the client for. Inquiries started to appear. I can't say for certain that only the page made the difference — a local campaign also started that same month.

What you get in the end

We usually end up with fewer pages than the client initially requests and more text on each. Plus a contact page that states how long a response takes, not just a form.

How long the exercise takes depends on how quickly we receive details from the client. For small businesses, the waiting time for texts is longer than the building phase.

If you have a list of services and don't know how they should be arranged on pages, send us the list and we'll tell you what we'd group and what we'd separate.

The structure we use for a service page

It's not a template we copy everywhere, but the order below has saved us from rewrites. Each block answers a question that a person already has in their mind when they arrive.

The "what's not included" block is the one clients want to remove, and it's the one that leads to the fewest unpleasant discussions after signing.

Where we get the text from

From calls, not from our heads. We listen to how the client describes their service and how people ask about it, then we keep their wording. One client said "fittings", his customers searched for "custom furniture" — the page remained on the second term, even if he didn't like it.

When a service page sounds like a brochure, it almost certainly was written without anyone speaking to a real customer.

One page or several

Our rule: separate pages only if the services are bought separately and by different people. If not, one well-made page beats five thin pages. We also made the opposite mistake, with six pages for variations of the same service, and the result was that they competed against each other in searches.

What we check before considering it finished

It reads well on the phone without needing to zoom, the price or range is visible without searching, the phone number appears at least twice, the form has a maximum of four fields. We learned the last point after keeping a nine-field form for months, "for qualification".

If you have a service page that brings visits but no messages, send us the link and we'll tell you what's missing from the list above.