Home » Small Business Owners: Stop Using a Catch-All Web Page to Promote your Services


The TL;DR: Small-Business owners need to create separate web pages for each of their services to improve UX and SEO.

a man frustrated with a website that doesn't have separate service pages

Recent SEO audits I’ve conducted on small-business websites have revealed a common issue: Instead of creating separate web pages for each service, all services are listed on one long page.

This is bad UX and bad SEO.

Why is a catch-all Services page bad UX?

When users hit a website, they don’t want to think. They want to find what they are looking for immediately. When you use a catch-all web page to promote multiple services, it forces users to read the content to find what they need.

Users HATE READING (unless it’s a news site or blog). If they can’t find the exact answer or approximate answer right away, they are going to immediately leave your website. This will result in no conversions, no leads, and a high bounce rate.

Why is a catch-all Services page bad SEO?

There are a couple reasons why having a catch-all services page is bad SEO.

When your site has a high bounce rate (caused by your bad UX), search engines notice this. They think your website isn’t providing a good experience to users, so they won’t rank you highly in search results.

Additionally, not having a separate page for each service prevents you from optimizing for targeted search terms. You can’t get specific with your on-page optimizations, so you’re forced to optimize for an all-encompassing, general topic that doesn’t capture what you actually offer clients.

Let’s say you’re a plumber. There are many searches that relate to the need for a plumber – “drain snaking service,” “bathroom pipes repair,” “kitchen faucet repair,” etc. Now, if you have a separate page for those services, then you can optimize for three different search terms. But if you have a catch-all services page, you are forced to optimize for a generic, difficult term like “Plumbing Services.”

Let’s use an actual example, this one an auto repair shop in Pittsburgh, PA.

a website that uses a catch-all Services page

This website uses one services page to list all its services. Many of these services – like “Diagnostics,” “Timing Belt Replacement,” and “Front and Rear Suspension Repair” can be grouped under a general “Auto Repair Services” page.

But they also offer State Inspections and Towing, services which are completely different from auto repair. Look at the search volume in the Pittsburgh region for terms related to “State Inspections” and “Towing:”

Mobile Users: Swipe from side-to-side to see the full table.

KeywordAvg. Monthly Search Volume
towing service90
state car inspection40
car inspection480
state inspection near me390
towing near me320
car inspection near me320
towing company near me210
towing company170
state inspection170
towing service near me70
auto inspection near me70
vehicle inspection near me50
state car inspection near me50
car towing40
tow truck company near me30
cheap towing near me30
tow truck company30
tow truck service30
cheap towing20

That is a total of almost 3000 average searches a month they are missing out on! All because they don’t have web pages specific to and optimized for these search terms.

Now, I’m not suggesting they make a web page for every single service they offer. What they need to do is figure out which services should logically be grouped together, then make separate service pages for each of those groupings.

If you’re a small-business owner, take a look at your website and decide if you need separate pages for each of your services. If you do, figure out how they should be grouped, decide which search terms you want to target, then make new web pages with easy-to-read, informational content that users will find useful. Then put a link to each page in the main navigation (they can be child pages of the Services page if you offer a lot of services). Do this to help improve your UX and SEO.

And don’t forget the Call-to-Action!

If you need help with your small business website’s SEO, contact Digital Dynamo for a free consultation.