Business websites / Corporate groups
How to Plan a Corporate Group Website
A corporate group website should explain why the group exists, how its companies relate, and where each visitor should go without erasing the operating businesses or duplicating every page they own.
Define the job of the group website
Decide which audiences need a group-level view: investors, lenders, acquisition candidates, partners, senior recruits, media, regulators, or customers seeking the right operating company. The site may need to establish governance and scale, route opportunities, publish formal information, or support a shared employer story. Rank those jobs before designing the sitemap.
Write a clear group proposition that explains the common ownership, strategy, platform, or capability without claiming that every company offers the same thing. If the group is primarily a holding structure, say so plainly. If it provides shared operations or creates cross-company value, show how that works with evidence.
Map the portfolio without creating a directory dead end
Give each company a concise profile with its role, markets, locations, website, and relationship to the group. Useful filters can help a large portfolio, but categories should reflect how visitors search, not internal reporting codes. Link to the operating company for detailed services, products, and contact rather than copying content that will drift out of date.
Explain acquisitions, disposals, joint ventures, and brand relationships accurately. Use current legal names where required and distinguish brands from companies. For groups consolidating several legacy sites, the guide to consolidating websites during a redesign helps decide what belongs at group level and what should remain independent.
Create one accountable source for group information
Group leadership, governance, policies, reports, ownership information, and formal announcements need named content owners and review rules. Keep publication dates visible, preserve required archives, and separate regulated or investor information from general marketing pages. Do not imply financial performance, sustainability outcomes, or geographic presence beyond approved disclosures.
A shared careers story can explain culture, mobility, and group-wide opportunities while vacancies remain owned by the relevant company or recruitment platform. The same applies to news and insights: publish a group item once, then distribute or reference it rather than creating slightly different copies across every site.
Route enquiries to the company that can act
Offer distinct paths for investment, acquisitions, media, careers, suppliers, corporate matters, and customer enquiries. A short routing question can direct a visitor to the correct company, geography, or team. Explain when the group cannot resolve an operating-company issue directly instead of accepting a message that will circulate internally.
Measure successful company referrals, portfolio exploration, report use, qualified corporate enquiries, and career journeys. Governance matters after launch: define who can add a company, change a relationship, publish a report, or alter global navigation. The clearest group site is one whose structure stays accurate as the portfolio changes.
Make the group easier to understand
Need a corporate group website with clearer relationships?
Northform can structure the group story, portfolio, governance content, careers, and enquiry routing without duplicating every operating-company site.
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