Boucher & Jones IA recommendation: Pattern A + hub-and-spoke, NOT enterprise matrix
Created 2026-05-22
The specific recommendation for the Boucher & Jones website (regional Petro-Canada lubricant distributor, 4 dominant verticals: Agriculture / Fleet / Construction / Residential).
Pattern
- URL convention: Pattern A —
/industries/<vertical>/(see[[url-structure-patterns-by-pattern]]) - Architecture: Hub-and-spoke. One page per vertical with shared-services blocks pulled in via partials/CMS includes — not a full Industries × Services matrix.
- Top nav: Industries (mega menu) + Services (mega menu) + About + Contact. Two axes orthogonal at the top.
- Mobile nav: Accordion or sequential — not split buttons (see NN/g: split buttons unreliable on touch (fat-finger conflicts) — use sequential menus or accordions on mobile).
- Schema: One
Serviceper vertical when offerings genuinely differ (see[[rule-one-service-per-vertical-when-offerings-differ]]); oneServicewith multiple audiences when offering is materially identical. - Forms: Single-step under 7 fields. Multi-step only for the longer "request a quote" flow with a vertical-selector first step (see
[[zuko-multi-step-only-helps-above-7-fields]]).
Why this specifically
- B&J's 4 verticals have distinct vocabulary (hydraulic oil ≠ fleet engine oil ≠ furnace oil) — generic IA underperforms.
- B&J's team size doesn't support an enterprise matrix — hub-and-spoke maintains shared-service blocks once, in one place, then renders into each vertical hub.
- E.H. Wolf (
[[eh-wolf-petro-canada-distributor-ia-pattern]]) is the closest existing analog and uses a very similar pattern (with the Pattern B flat URL convention — Candid can choose Pattern A for future-proofing). - RelaDyne (
[[reladyne-industries-pattern-19-verticals]]) shows what happens at 19 verticals; B&J doesn't need that fan-out.
Migration sequence (if existing site)
- Phase 1: Stand up vertical hub pages with substantive content (case studies, regulations, vocabulary) — see
[[rule-vertical-pages-need-substantive-content]] - Phase 2: Build shared-services blocks; pull them into each hub
- Phase 3: Decide whether to expand into a full matrix (Pattern E) — only if specific matrix queries justify the content investment
- 301 redirects from old paths preserve URL equity throughout — see
[[sej-892-migrations-523-day-recovery]]for the migration cost reality
Depends on
- reference RelaDyne: /products-solutions/<industry>/ namespace, ~19 verticals, multi-axis IA ("By Industry / Product / Brand / Service")
- reference E.H. Wolf & Sons: closest direct B&J analog — "Industries We Serve" + 16 flat-root vertical pages
- reference Reference: which IA pattern to use, by business shape (decision matrix)
- reference Reference: 5 URL structure patterns for multi-vertical IA (A through E), with field-observed usage