URL structure for professional services across multiple industries

[MeasureEverything]

I am working with a company who does consulting work across multiple industries, but the services are essentially the same.

Example Services: They implement "Customer Relationship Management" systems and "Data Archiving" Solutions.

Example Industries: The services above can each apply to "Oil & Gas" or "Retail".

Example URL Structures:

1. mysite.com/oil-gas <-- This page would also contain links to all of the services provided to the Oil & Gas industry.
2. mysite.com/oil-gas/customer-relationship-management-system
3. mysite.com/retail
4. mysite.com/retail/customer-relationship-management-system

This seems like the best way to go, as long as i'm writing unique content, for each industry, for each service (i.e. I need to explain how a CRM solution solves specific problems in retail and OTHER specific problems in Oil & Gas). While there will certainly be some overlap, this approach seems logical to me. The URL length isn't too long either, which is nice.

The company currently solely focuses on services in URL structure (not a very deep site):

1. mysite.com/customer-relationship-management-system
2. mysite.com/data-archiving

Since they have already worked with hundreds of clients in multiple industries, it seems smarter to start focusing more on individual customer segments.

Would anyone else do this differently?

Thanks, Alex

[MeasureEverything]

Kristina,

Those are excellent points. Thank you for taking the time to respond.

-Alex

[KristinaKledzik]

Hey Alex,

It sounds like you've already got some assurance from Patrick, but I wanted to quickly throw in my 2 cents.

The answer to your question has more to do with the people looking for your services than it has to do with a right or wrong structure. It sounds like you're making this change because you think that it makes more sense for people to search by industry than by services. If that's true, you're right, you should center your site structure around industries like you suggested. You should definitely double check with keyword volume, and by asking your customers how they searched for your site, though.

Personally, if I were looking for CRM consulting, I wouldn't look for "sharing economy CRM" (because I work for a company that's a sharing economy). I'd just look for "customer relationship management consulting," then maybe ask them if they've ever worked with a sharing economy site before.

If you check with your clients and look into keyword volume and I'm right, I'd keep the site structure the way it is, and flesh out the services pages and link to pages that are dedicated to how well you do CRM in different industries, assuming there's enough data for that. The key here is to make sure that you're writing content that your potential clients are looking for, not just filling out pages to show that you have a robust site.

I hope this helps!

Kristina

[PatrickDelehanty]

No problem Alex! Good to know you have your bases covered!

Good luck!

[MeasureEverything]

Patrick,

Yes, everything will be unique. I actually went through that Whiteboard Friday you recommended prior to posting. It was helpful. In general, as long as the content is unique and is valuable for the target audience, I don't see any issues with the proposed strategy. Thanks for your input Patrick.

-Alex

[PatrickDelehanty]

Hi there

I like the set up you are looking at - especially if your content is unique and your on-site SEO is unique as well.

I would take a look at Rand's Information Architecture for SEO - Whiteboard Friday as well.

Hope this helps! Good luck!