Thanks for coming back. In our previous post we spoke on the importance of On-page SEO and started with a list of parameters to consider a better ranking for your search results. In case you missed the post, you can read it here. Our focus was on the very first parameter within SEO Design & Architecture i.e. URL structure or working with SEO friendly URLs.
Navigation strategy on your website.
In today's post we will look through a few examples of great navigation strategies implemented by some popular websites. Google likes sites with a great information architecture. It constantly indexes new content and looks for pages that tell its users the exact context of the page. In a scenario when the user wants to start navigating through your website, it becomes imperative for the site to offer a great UI (User Interface) and UX (User experience) to your visitors which results in creating a positive impression of the brand for the visitor and also prompts him to return on the site frequently. In a nutshell, the idea here is to provide your visitors with as many options to browse through your site as possible. Spoil the user for options and get him to feel comfortable being on your site.A few basics should be considered while planning navigation for your website. Here is a list for your reference...
- Who is my visitor? (Doctor, student, working professional, trader, house wife)
- Where will they discover me? (Search, social media, other websites, directory listings etc)
- How will the access my website? (Mobility devices or desktop devices)
- What do i want them to do when they are on my site? (Purchase, register, sign-up, book)
- How can i make visiting my website a pleasurable experience? (UI & UX)
Once i have clarity on the above basic questions (Not limited to these only, they may change as per your business need), you can start considering the navigation options for your website. Remember, "More the Merrier" though do not be pushy and desperate about it. Here is a list for your consideration...
Website Menus - Standard Horizontal & Vertical menus
Every user on your site is looking forward for an easy to understand menu on your website.
A neatly aligned and a strategically placed menus is at the heart of your navigation strategy. You want to make it easy for your users to find what you are selling in the easiest way possible.
Category sliders with Call-to-Actions
Attention spans of your users are reducing every day. You want a neatly placed category slider on the home page itself so that your users can straight away "jump" to their interested product line.
Its easy to feel cluttered in the process of adding too many product sliders. Be discreet and keep it simple.
The Search box
Your users feel delighted when they find exactly what they desire in the search box provided by you on your site. The size of the search box though has to be based on the nature of your business and the probability of your users who would like to use search on your website.
If search behavior of your users is important to your users, then be sure to work with more search add-ons like predictive search, recommended search and search suggestions within your search box.
Bread crumbs
Well, a little something goes a long way in creating a lasting impression. While navigating through your product pages your users might feel the urge to check back with other similar products or accessories. Implementing a bread-crumb link structure allows for just that.
Remember, bread crumbs are not an absolute necessity, but they are good to have if your business relates to it.
Product Filters
Allowing your users to control search results is the best way to ensure relevancy on your website.
Showing accurate results and adding advanced search capabilities to your business site has more than one benefits. Collecting product specific data, driving focussed traffic, lower bounced traffic etc. I will discuss them in detail in future posts.
Sitemaps
We have already discussed .xml sitemaps in our previous posts, though this one refers to the .html version of sitemaps which will be used by your users to jump from one point of the page to another point.
Generally placed on the footer section of the website.
Best practice is to keep updating the html links of your website. Though users don't really use sitemaps on the website these days, but Google still considers sitemaps as a signal of dedication and commitment to content.
Footer Links
Google likes neat, to-the-point and a well designed website. Your Header & Footer designs are an integral part of this eco-system.
The above example is inconclusive and bad to look at.
An ideal footer design
With the above options for navigation and your understanding of user behaviour on your website, you must constantly work towards providing a positive navigation experience and keep adding/optimising website architecture to suit your traffic needs.
Hope you found this post valuable and a great starting point for your website navigation plan. All the best and let me know about the concerns of your website related to navigation. Feel free to leave a comment or reach out through the contact form.
See you around for the next post, where we will talk about and explore more topics related to the design and architecture of your website.
Happy learning.
Mitul Shingadia
