Industry landing pages for service firms: how to rank without thin content

Industry landing pages are a classic SEO trap. They look like easy wins: swap in a new industry name, hit publish, and wait for leads. In practice, this is one of the fastest ways to create thin content, confuse search engines, and frustrate real buyers.

This guide is about building industry pages that actually deserve to rank. It’s aimed at service firms selling in English‑first markets across the US, UK, AU, and the EU. If your company sells outcomes, strategy, or expertise, your industry pages need to read like you understand the buyer’s world — not like you cloned a template.

Why search engines are suspicious of industry pages

Google is explicit about doorway pages: multiple similar pages created to rank for specific queries and funnel users to one destination. That’s exactly what most industry page templates do. Google’s spam policies call this out as doorway abuse. If you’re publishing ten near‑identical pages that exist only to capture “web design for lawyers” or “web design for clinics,” you’re in the danger zone. Google Search Essentials spam policies include doorway abuse as a prohibited practice.

Google’s helpful content guidance points to the same principle. If a page exists primarily to rank, rather than to help a person make a decision, it’s not the kind of content Google wants to reward. Their guidance pushes for people‑first content that serves real visitors, not search engines. Creating helpful, reliable, people‑first content is worth a careful read before you commit to an industry page program.

Bing is aligned on this too. Their 2025 guidance around duplicate content explains how repeating the same blocks across multiple URLs can make it harder for search engines to pick the most relevant page. The more duplication, the weaker your signals become. Bing Webmaster blog on duplicate content is a clear warning about over‑templating.

So if you want industry pages to work, you have to earn them.

Start with an intent map, not a template

The difference between a thin industry page and a strong one is intent clarity. Don’t start by choosing industries. Start by asking what kinds of buyers actually behave differently.

Here’s a simple filter I use with service firms:

• Different stakes. Do buyers in that industry face a different risk profile? If yes, you likely need a unique narrative.
• Different proof. Do you have relevant results, case studies, or outcomes for that industry? If not, you’re going to force the copy.
• Different language. Does the industry use a different vocabulary or buy on different constraints? If yes, the page should reflect that.
• Different next step. Will you route them to a different service bundle, timeline, or engagement model? If yes, a unique page can make sense.

If the answers are all “no,” you probably don’t need a new page. You might just need a better service page anatomy and smarter internal linking from your main service page.

Decide whether the page deserves to exist

Industry pages are not mandatory. They are a strategic tradeoff. Each page creates maintenance work, a new ranking surface, and another place you need to prove trust.

Ask yourself:

• Can I show at least one industry‑specific proof point (case study, example, metric, or workflow)?
• Can I offer a specific promise that is different from the main service page?
• Can I write 600–900 words of unique copy without padding?
• Would this page still be useful if search traffic didn’t exist?

If you can’t answer “yes” to most of these, don’t publish. Put the content into a stronger core page and build the industry relevance with sections, not standalone URLs.

If the page does deserve to exist, treat it like a mini‑homepage: clear positioning, proof, and a decision path.

What makes an industry page feel real

When industry pages work, it’s because they make the buyer feel seen. That doesn’t require fluff; it requires specificity.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

1) The opening context is different

The first 150–200 words should reflect how that industry makes decisions. The difference is usually not in the service you offer, but in the risk they carry. A healthcare group thinks about compliance and patient trust. A professional services firm thinks about credibility and long sales cycles. Speak to that reality.

2) The outcomes are industry‑specific

Don’t list generic results like “more leads.” Tie your outcome to their world: reduced sales friction, fewer legal questions, faster procurement approval, clearer proof of expertise. This is where your about page and case study structure can feed the industry page.

3) The proof matches the buyer’s expectations

If your proof is only logos and vague testimonials, the page will read as generic. Bring in concrete proof patterns that your target industry respects. That might be:

• Before/after numbers tied to their KPIs
• A workflow diagram that shows how you handle approvals
• A breakdown of your discovery process (link to discovery phase for website redesign projects)
• Specific deliverables tied to their buyer journey

4) The CTA reflects decision reality

Some industries need a consultation call. Others need a written scope. Align the CTA with the real next step. This is a good moment to route serious buyers to your project brief while still offering a lighter contact form for early conversations.

Avoid the thin content traps that kill rankings

There are three traps that pull industry pages into thin content territory.

Trap 1: Swap-the-noun templates

If the only difference between pages is the industry name, you’re creating duplicates. Bing’s guidance on duplicate content makes it clear: heavy reuse can reduce clarity for search engines and make it harder to rank the right page. Duplicate content in AI search explains why this becomes a visibility problem.

Trap 2: One CTA, one destination

If every industry page funnels to the same destination with no unique promise, it looks like a doorway strategy. Google’s spam policies warn against multiple similar pages that exist only to route users to one conversion point. Spam policies: doorway abuse is the reference point here.

Trap 3: Over‑indexing on keywords

Keyword stuffing is easy to spot. It also makes the page feel lifeless. Write for real buyers first. If the page is helpful and clearly about a specific industry, the keywords will be there naturally.

A structure that works for service firms

Here’s a structure I use when building industry pages for B2B and service companies. It’s not a template — it’s a narrative arc you can adapt.

1. Industry‑specific opening. The first screen should talk about their real decision pressure.
2. Clear positioning. Explain why you’re a fit for that industry and what makes your approach different.
3. Proof. Use relevant outcomes, not generic testimonials.
4. Process. Outline the steps in a way that matches their buying cycle.
5. Scope clarity. List what’s included and what’s not. This is where the service page anatomy framework helps.
6. Trust signals. Security, accessibility, compliance, or operational readiness — whichever matters most.
7. CTA with choices. One primary action and one secondary action, both aligned to the stage of the buyer.

This structure ties directly to your overall information architecture and helps each industry page feel like part of a system, not a random asset.

SEO signals that help without manipulating

You still need to give search engines the right signals. Just do it in a way that doesn’t look like a keyword factory.

• Title and URL should be plain. Don’t over‑engineer them. A clean URL like /industries/healthcare-websites is enough.
• Internal links should be intentional. Link to your core service offering like business websites, then to supporting pages like local SEO basics or your pricing page.
• Use structured data only when it matches what’s visible. Google’s structured data guidance is clear: markup should reflect the content on the page. Structured data basics is the canonical source.

If you need help writing titles and meta descriptions, the SERP preview tool keeps you honest without forcing keyword repetition.

When you need multiple regions or languages

If your industry pages are also region‑specific, treat that as a separate decision. Don’t create a country version unless the content genuinely changes. When it does, use proper language targeting and internal linking. The hreflang guide covers the clean setup.

A quick QA checklist before publishing

Keep this lightweight. If you can’t answer “yes,” you’re not done.

• Does this page include industry‑specific proof that isn’t reused elsewhere?
• Would this page still be valuable if you removed search traffic from the equation?
• Is the CTA different from your main service page, or at least framed differently?
• Are the internal links guiding readers to a clear next step?
• Did you avoid boilerplate blocks that appear in every industry page?

If you want a second set of eyes before launch, send the draft through the project brief or share it in a contact request. I’ll flag anything that reads like a doorway page and help tighten the narrative.