search-engine-optimization-navigation

Search Engines need good navigation.

Can you image trying to navigate through a string of caves without knowing how to get back? Maybe use an old fashion tactic like leaving bread crumbs would help? Blindfolding visitors and search engines by poor site navigation will cause the search engines and visitors to get lost and confused. The end result is poor search engine ranking and little if any return visitors.

The navigation of a website is necessary in helping visitors quickly find the content they are looking for. It can also help search engines understand what content the owner of the site thinks is important. Although Google's search results are provided at a URL or page level, Google also needs to have a sense of what role a page plays in terms of value and importance.

Your navigation should start with your landing or home page.

Every site ha a starting point or a home page, which is usually the most visited page on the site and the starting point of any navigation for many visitors. You need to think and design your navigation around how visitors will go from a home page to a page containing more specific content.

The next page should be a top level category page. Usually a page with a high root keyword value. You can also think of these pages as the main limbs of a tree which then lead to a lot of smaller limbs and branches. Keep these pages relatively simple. Make sure not to try to over sell with too much content. Like the home page, the goal of these pages are to show the visitor how to get what they are looking for very quickly.

The next level of pages are normally the end product or service page or a filtering page to lead the visitor to the exact thing they want!

Ensure more convenience for users by using ‘breadcrumb lists’

A breadcrumb is a row of internal links at the top or bottom of the page that allows visitors to quickly navigate back to a previous section or the root page (1). Many breadcrumbs have the most general page (usually the root page) as the first, left-most link and list the more specific sections out to the right.

Put a great deal of thought into your navigation architecture. Google and other search engines will consider the value of a high level category page depending upon how many lower level pages feed into this page.

Straight from Google: