Most visitors to a small business website want one thing quickly. They might want a price, a phone number, a service list or proof that you work in their suburb. If the menu and page layout make that hard, many will leave. Good structure is the quiet part of web design that keeps them on the site.
Planning that structure before any design work starts saves a lot of rework. It shapes the menu, the page templates and even the words on each page. It also helps search engines make sense of the site. This guide walks through a simple way to plan it.
Start with what visitors need
A site structure works best when it follows the questions people bring to it. Write down the main reasons someone visits your site. For a trade business that might be services, areas covered, recent work and how to get a quote. Those reasons become the starting point for your top level pages.
Resist the urge to mirror how your business is organised internally. Customers rarely care about your departments or job titles. They care about the problem they need solved. A menu built around their questions will almost always be easier to use.
Keep the hierarchy shallow
Most small business sites suit a hierarchical structure. The Australian Government Style Manual describes this kind of structure as one that groups content by category and shows how those categories relate. It names website information architecture as a typical use. Its page on hierarchical structure also advises keeping the hierarchy shallow.
The Style Manual suggests using no more than four heading levels. That advice is about headings on a page, but the same thinking suits a menu. Every extra layer is one more choice a visitor has to make. For most small sites, two levels of menu are plenty.
A simple shape for a small site
A common and sensible shape has a handful of top level pages. Each one can hold a small group of related pages beneath it. Anything a visitor might need from any page can sit in the footer. Here is a typical example for a service business.
- Home
- Services, with one page for each main service
- Areas you work in, if location matters to your customers
- Recent work or a gallery
- About
- Contact
This is a starting point rather than a rule. A shop, a clinic and a builder will each need a slightly different mix. What matters is that every page has an obvious home. If you cannot decide where a page belongs, the structure needs another look.
Give each page one clear job
Each page in the structure should answer one main question. A single page that covers every service at once tends to be long and vague. Separate service pages let you explain each one properly. They also give visitors a direct path to the exact thing they came for.
Clear page jobs also help with search. Google’s SEO starter guide says that organising a site logically can help search engines and users understand how pages relate to the rest of the site. A page with one clear topic is easier for both to understand. The broader basics in our post on how to boost your SEO score build on the same idea.
Watch out for pages that say almost the same thing. Google’s guide says duplicate content is not a breach of its spam policies, but it can be a bad user experience. It can also waste crawling on pages you do not care about. Merging near copies into one stronger page is usually the better choice.
Structure within each page
Structure matters inside a page as much as across the site. The Style Manual suggests planning the headings first, then deciding what content falls under each. Headings should describe the topic of the section that follows. Visitors scan headings before they read anything else.
Well marked up pages help people using assistive technology too. A screen reader user can jump between headings and regions rather than listening to every line. Keyboard users can skip past repeated menus to reach the main content. Our post on designing websites for universal access covers this side of the job in more depth.
The top of each page carries extra weight. It should tell visitors where they are and what the page offers. A clear heading and a short opening line do most of that work. The same building blocks for great website first impressions apply to inner pages as well as the home page.
Menus, links and page addresses
Menu labels should use the words customers use. Plain labels such as Services or Contact beat clever ones that make people guess. Keep the main menu the same on every page so visitors always know where to find it. The Style Manual also advises using the same menu elements throughout.
Links between pages matter just as much as the menu. Google says it mainly finds pages through links from other pages it has already crawled. Its guide also says good anchor text tells users and Google what the linked page contains. Linking related services to each other with descriptive words helps on both counts.
Page addresses are part of the structure too. Google’s guide suggests including words in the address that are useful for users. An address that only contains random identifiers is less helpful. A short address that names the service tells visitors and search engines what to expect.
Planning for small screens
On a phone the menu usually collapses behind a single button. That makes a short, well ordered menu even more valuable. Put the pages people need most at the top of the list. A phone number or quote button can sit outside the menu so it is always in reach.
Long pages also feel longer on a small screen. Clear headings and short sections make scrolling easier. Breaking content into chunks helps visitors find their place again. Our guide on how to write for mobile has more on shaping words for small screens.
Frequently asked questions
How many pages should a small business website have?
There is no set number. A site needs enough pages to answer the main questions customers bring to it. For many service businesses that means a page for each main service plus the usual about and contact pages. Quality and clarity matter more than the total count.
Should I use drop down menus?
Drop down menus can work well for a small group of related pages such as services. Keep them short and use plain labels. Very long or deeply layered menus are harder to use, especially on a phone. Two levels are enough for most small sites.
Do I need a sitemap file?
Google describes a sitemap as a file listing the addresses on your site that you care about. Its starter guide says one is not required. Many website platforms create one automatically. Good internal links still do most of the work of helping pages get found.
Should I change my structure if my site already ranks?
Take care with big changes to an existing site. Google’s starter guide notes that search engines will likely understand your pages as they are right now. Small improvements are often safer than a full reshuffle. If you do move pages, plan redirects from the old addresses.
