DIRECT ANSWER
A website with several services is organized around service lines under one company identity. A service hub introduces every line and who it fits, each line has its own page, and the company's shared foundation sits beneath them all. The links between pages follow how the services relate: one leading to the next, one chosen instead of another, or several bought together.
Key terms
- Service line
- A distinct offering with its own customer decision. Services belong to one line when customers decide on them together with the same questions, and to separate lines when the decision, the questions or the next step differ.
- Service hub
- A page that introduces every service line with a sentence on who each one fits and links to each service page.
- Service sequence
- An order in which services commonly follow one another, such as design, then construction, then maintenance. Each page in a sequence ends by explaining the next service.
- Eligibility condition
- A requirement a customer must meet to receive a service, such as a service area, a minimum project size or a prior purchase. It is stated on the service page before the next step.
Company identity and service lines
A business with several services needs two layers of structure on its website. The company layer answers whether to trust the business: who it is, its credentials, how it works and how to reach it. That layer is the shared foundation, and it stays the same on every page. The service layer answers whether a particular service fits: what it covers, who it is for, what affects the price and what happens next, which is the job of a service page. Which answers belong on a service page and which belong in the catalog is covered in service page or Knowledge Catalog.
Confusion comes from mixing the layers. A homepage that describes every service in equal detail buries the company's identity under a list. A site that tells the company story and compresses its services into one paragraph leaves visitors unsure which offer matches their project.
A service line is a distinct offering with its own decision. Two services belong to one line when a customer decides on them together and asks the same questions about them. They become separate lines when the decision, the questions or the next step differ, which is the same test that separates customer pathways.
Organizing navigation by service
Navigation for a multi-service business works best organized by service or by project, with customer-type routes added where they help. Nielsen Norman Group recommends topic- or task-based navigation as the primary structure, with audience categories in a secondary role [1]. Its menu design guidance calls for familiar, specific labels that describe the actual offering, and for showing visitors where they are in the site, because visitors often arrive on internal pages directly [2]. WCAG 2.2 lists breadcrumbs and an indicated current location among the techniques for its location criterion, a Level AAA practice [3].
The same structure appears in page addresses and search results. Google recommends readable, descriptive URLs with words separated by hyphens, such as /services/renovations [4]. It reads breadcrumb markup to show where a page sits in a site's hierarchy, and its guidance recommends breadcrumbs that follow a typical visitor's path to the page, which may differ from the folder structure of the URL [5].
How services relate
The links between service pages should follow how the services relate. Four relationships cover most multi-service businesses.
| Relationship | Example | What the website does |
|---|---|---|
| Independent | A builder's commercial projects and its residential renovations | Separate pages reached from the service hub, with no forced connection |
| Sequence | Design leads to construction, which leads to maintenance | Each page ends with the next service and explains the handoff; one overview shows the whole sequence |
| Alternative | Renovating an existing home or building a new one | A short comparison on both pages helps the visitor choose |
| Bundle | Design and construction contracted together | One explanation of what the combined engagement includes |
A service can hold more than one relationship. Construction can follow design in a sequence and still be the alternative a homeowner weighs against renovation.
Eligibility conditions
Some services are available only under conditions: a maintenance program for homes the company built, commercial work above a minimum size, or service within a set area. Whether a condition exists is a business decision. Whether visitors learn about it in time is a website decision. The condition belongs on the service page, stated in the visitor's terms before the next step. A condition stated nowhere produces inquiries the business has to decline, which costs both sides time.
Applications
A design-build firm with five services
Illustrative example. A design-build firm offers architectural design, custom home construction, renovations, commercial projects and a maintenance program after construction.
| Service | Who it is for | Relationship | Eligibility condition | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Architectural design | Owners planning a new home | Leads to construction | None | Request a design consultation |
| Custom home construction | Owners with a design, from the firm or elsewhere | Follows design; leads to maintenance | Owner's decision: whether outside designs are accepted | Request a project review |
| Renovations | Owners improving an existing home | Alternative to a new build | Service area | Request a site visit |
| Commercial projects | Business owners and developers | Independent | Project size, if the firm sets one | Request a bid |
| Maintenance program | Homeowners after construction | Follows construction | Owner's decision: homes the firm built only, or any home | Enroll, or ask about eligibility |
The homepage leads with the company and asks what the visitor is planning: a new home, a renovation, a commercial project or care for a finished home. A service hub lists all five with one sentence each. The design page closes with how design moves into construction, and the construction page closes with the maintenance program. The renovation and construction pages each carry a short comparison for owners deciding between the two. The maintenance page states its eligibility before the enrollment step. A project that used more than one service appears once in the portfolio and links to each service it involved.
A heating and cooling company with an emergency service
Illustrative example. A heating and cooling company installs systems, repairs them, sells seasonal maintenance plans and responds to no-heat and no-cooling emergencies. Installation leads to the maintenance plan, and repair and replacement are alternatives a homeowner weighs when a system fails. The emergency service differs in readiness: a visitor without heat in winter is ready to act immediately. Its phone action appears on every page and near the top of the screen on phones, while the other services follow the hub and page structure.
Limits and edge cases
- Small variations. Services that differ only by size, material or package level are one line with options, explained on one page. Separate pages for each variation repeat content, the same problem as copied city pages.
- Services with nothing in common. When services share no customers, no sequence and no proof, it is worth checking whether one company website is the right home for all of them.
- Rarely sold services. A service sold a few times a year can be listed on the hub and explained in a section until demand grows.
- Eligibility the business has not decided. The website cannot settle an open policy question. Until the owner decides, the page can state that eligibility is confirmed case by case.
- Licensed trades. Licensed contractors may face rules about how license numbers and services appear in advertising. Confirm the wording with the licensing board.
- A changing service mix. Adding or retiring a service changes the hub, the sequence links and the comparisons. The relationships are worth reviewing whenever a service changes.
Map your services
List up to eight services. For each one, choose how it relates to another service and mark whether it is urgent and whether it has an eligibility condition. The tool lists the pages, links and statements the structure needs.
Map your services
List your services. For each, note whether it stands alone, leads to another service, is chosen instead of another or is bought together with another. Give every service a page, link sequences in order, compare alternatives on both pages and state any eligibility condition before the next step.
The recommendations follow the relationships in this entry. They describe structure only, and they do not review an existing website.
How So It Sticks applies this
We map how a business's services relate before we design its navigation. The map decides the service hub, the order of links between service pages and where each eligibility condition is stated. Start a Project Brief and list your services in the order customers usually buy them.
Sources and method
The two-layer model, the four relationships, the eligibility rule, the examples and the tool are So It Sticks editorial frameworks. The examples are illustrative and describe no real business. Each linked source supports only the statements numbered beside it. Sources verified October 15, 2026.
- Nielsen Norman Group: Audience-Based Navigation: 5 Reasons to Avoid It
- Nielsen Norman Group: Menu-Design Checklist: 17 UX Guidelines
- W3C: Understanding Success Criterion 2.4.8, Location
- Google Search Central: URL structure best practices for Google Search
- Google Search Central: Breadcrumb (BreadcrumbList) structured data