{"id":208,"slug":"rule-use-industries-slug-as-default-url","title":"RULE: Default to /industries/<slug>/ for multi-vertical service business URLs. Never /for-audience/ as primary IA.","kind":"rule","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","claude-code","dev","candid-team"],"topics":["seo-content","agency-methodology","information-architecture"],"reference_body":"**Rule:** For Candid Creative multi-vertical service business clients, the **default URL convention is `/industries/<slug>/`** (URL Pattern A). Variants like flat `/<slug>/` (Pattern B) are acceptable for small sites that will never add other root-level taxonomies. **Never** use `/for-<audience>/` slugs as primary IA — reserve those for paid-traffic landing pages only.\n\n**Why:**\n\n- Field survey of 8 multi-vertical service sites: **zero used `/for-<audience>/`** for primary IA — it's a SaaS marketing convention, not a service-business one (see [[zero-for-audience-slug-in-service-business-sample]])\n- Dominant pattern across Crowe ([[crowe-cleanest-industries-slug-pattern]]), BDO ([[bdo-industries-slash-services-mirror]]), HUB International ([[hub-international-parallel-industries-products]]) is `/industries/<slug>/` — when two independent large firms converge on a URL convention, that's an industry-level signal\n- Pattern A leaves room for sub-pages (`/industries/agriculture/case-studies/`); Pattern B fills the root namespace and constrains future taxonomies\n\n**How to apply:**\n\n- New sites: Pattern A by default. Pattern B only with explicit acknowledgement of the namespace constraint.\n- Existing sites: don't migrate URLs solely for IA aesthetics. The [[sej-892-migrations-523-day-recovery]] cost is real. Migrate only when the existing pattern is actively harmful (e.g., `/for-farmers/` conflict with a planned `/farmers/` content category).\n- `/for-<audience>/` is fine for ad landing pages with `noindex` or low-priority sitemap weight — the lock-in critique applies to *primary IA*, not landing pages.","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[{"slug":"crowe-cleanest-industries-slug-pattern","title":"Crowe LLP: cleanest /industries/<slug>/ URL pattern in the sample (Audit/Tax/Advisory/Consulting × industries)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"bdo-industries-slash-services-mirror","title":"BDO USA: mirrors Crowe — /industries/<slug>/ pattern with separate /services/ namespace","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"hub-international-parallel-industries-products","title":"HUB International: parallel /industries/ + /products/ with industry sub-pages where complexity warrants","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"zero-for-audience-slug-in-service-business-sample","title":"Field survey (May 2026): the /for-<audience>/ URL pattern was observed on ZERO of 8 multi-vertical service sites","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"url-structure-patterns-by-pattern","title":"Reference: 5 URL structure patterns for multi-vertical IA (A through E), with field-observed usage","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"}],"incoming":[{"slug":"research-brief-ia-multi-vertical-service-business","title":"Research brief: Information architecture for service businesses with multiple verticals (piece 6 of 15)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}]},"created_at":"2026-05-22T19:40:49.141Z","updated_at":"2026-05-22T19:40:49.141Z"}