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Adding pages during a redesign: how many pages you need

SiteSmith · · 5 min read

A small business website needs as many pages as it takes to answer the questions customers bring, and no more. For most local businesses that is somewhere between four and twelve: a home page, a page for each main service, an about page, a contact page, and one or two extras that suit your trade. A redesign is a good moment to add the pages your customers keep asking about, and to fold away the ones nobody reads.

The rule: one page per real question

Instead of a number, use a test. A page earns its place if a customer would come looking for it, and it has enough to say to be worth the click. Questions that usually justify a page:

  • "Do you do this specific job?" A page per main service.
  • "Can I see your work?" A gallery or projects page.
  • "Who are you?" An about page.
  • "How do I reach you, and when are you open?" A contact page.
  • "Do you come to my town?" A service area page.
  • "How much, how long, what happens next?" An FAQ or a pricing page.

If the answer to a question fits in two sentences, it belongs as a section on an existing page, not a page of its own.

A typical core set

Almost every small business site has these four:

  1. Home. What you do, where, and how to get in touch, in the first screen; then a summary of everything else.
  2. Services (or Menu, or Products). Either one page listing everything, or a short overview linking to one page per main service.
  3. About. Who runs the business, how long you have been at it, why customers can trust you.
  4. Contact. Phone, form, email, address or service area, hours.

Everything else depends on your type of business.

Typical page sets by type of business

These are starting points, not rules. Adjust them to what your customers actually ask.

Home-service trades

Plumbers, electricians, HVAC, roofers, landscapers, cleaners.

  • Home
  • One page per main service, often three to eight: for an HVAC company, for example, furnace repair, AC repair, installation, maintenance plans
  • Emergency service, if you offer it
  • Service area, with a page for a town only where you have real things to say about it
  • Reviews or projects
  • About
  • Contact or request a quote

Services matter most here, because customers search for the specific job. Writing a page for each service you offer covers what goes on each.

Restaurants, cafés and bakeries

  • Home, with hours and address right at the top
  • Menu, as a real web page rather than only a PDF, so it reads on a phone
  • Visit us: location, parking, hours, holiday hours
  • Catering, private events or custom orders, if you do them
  • About: the story, the people, where the ingredients come from

Salons, spas and studios

  • Home
  • Services and prices
  • Team or stylists, with a photo and specialty for each
  • Book now, linking to your booking tool
  • Gallery
  • Policies: cancellations, late arrivals, first visits

Professional offices

Accountants, lawyers, insurance agents, therapists, consultants.

  • Home
  • One page per main service or practice area
  • About or team, with a short bio for each person
  • What to expect, or first meeting
  • FAQ
  • Contact

Here the people pages matter more than in other trades, because clients are choosing a person.

Shops and boutiques without an online store

  • Home
  • What we carry, with photos by category
  • Visit us: hours, location, parking
  • Events or new arrivals, only if you will keep it current
  • About

Churches and nonprofits

  • Home
  • Plan your visit, or Get involved
  • Programs or ministries
  • Events
  • Give or Donate
  • About, with leadership and beliefs or mission

Pages not to add

A redesign is also the time to resist pages that look good on a plan but end up empty:

  • A blog you will not write for. A news page whose last post is three years old tells visitors nobody is minding the site. Should your website have a blog? helps you decide.
  • Near-copy town pages, the same text with a different town name.
  • A separate page for a service you do rarely or that takes two sentences to describe.
  • "Coming soon" pages.
  • A page for every review, or every photo.

Pages with very little on them help nobody, including Google. Thin pages explains why.

Adding pages without breaking old ones

When you add pages in a redesign, keep the existing ones at their current addresses. If your services page has lived at /services for years, it should still be there, even if it now leads to separate pages for each service. If you split one page into several, the old address should either stay as the overview or forward to the most relevant new page.

Add new pages to the menu in a way that stays short on a phone. Six or seven items at most, with services grouped under one heading if there are many.

How to decide in practice

  1. List the questions customers ask on the phone or in person. Write down every one you hear this week.
  2. Group them. Each group that needs more than a paragraph is a page.
  3. Compare with your current pages. What is missing? What is never visited or out of date?
  4. Start small. Add the pages customers most need first. You can always add more later.
  5. Check the menu on a phone. Can someone reach any page in two taps?

Planning your new website's pages before a redesign walks through this in more detail. And if you are wondering whether you could go the other way and fit everything on a single page, see is one page enough.

What to do this week

  • Write down every customer question you hear for a week.
  • List your current pages and mark each keep, merge or drop.
  • Pick the typical set above that matches your business and compare.
  • Write three sentences for each page you want to add.

When your page list is settled, you can see your site rebuilt first from the pages you already have, and add the new ones on top once you see how it looks.

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