One of the fundamental principles of website navigation design is to make it visible. Mega menus should only be used for organizations with large sites, such as ecommerce stores, universities, and corporations with multiple subdivisions. The key to success with a mega menu is the categorization without categories, the menu is just one large and overwhelming collection of links. A mega menu is essentially a large dropdown menu that displays a collection of categorized links. However, there is one exception to this rule called the mega menu. Oscar offers a good example of a well-organized dropdown mega menu. In addition, avoid the use of dropdown menus, which can be difficult for search engine bots to crawl. If possible, it's best to limit the main navigation menu to no more than seven links. A cluttered or overly complex navigation can cause confusion or uncertainty in the worst case scenario, the user will exit out of the site completely if they can't find what they're looking for quickly. As we discussed earlier, the main goal of website navigation is to get users to where they want to go in as few steps as possible. This is especially true for website navigation. Most of the time, in the context of user experience, simplicity is key. The following seven principles will help you design navigation that is both intuitive for users and easy for search engines to index. Now that we’ve covered the four main types of website navigation, let’s dive into some best practices. 7 best practices for website navigation On Sephora’s website, the breadcrumbs are displayed underneath the main navigation on shop and product pages. They're useful for helping users navigate within a specific category of interest. Breadcrumbs are commonly seen on blogs and ecommerce sites. These are hierarchical links that show how pages are nested within each other. The fourth type of website navigation is called breadcrumbs. Important, top-level page links are better positioned in the top and footer menus, where they are more visible in comparison to the sidebar. Sidebars are typically used to categorize content, such as articles or blog posts. In this example, the sidebar typically takes up about 1/4 of the width of the page. A familiar example of sidebar navigation is the classic blog layout, where the content is on the left and the sidebar on the right.
As the name suggests, sidebars are positioned on either the left or right side of a page. At minimum, a website's footer menu should include links to legal pages and a way to get in touch with the site owner.Ī third type of website navigation that is often seen on ecommerce and other content heavy sites is a sidebar. Some people scroll all the way to the footer menu if they can't easily find what they're looking for in the top menu or within the page content itself. In most cases, it's considered good practice to include links in the footer menu to the most important pages on the site. Whole Foods’ footer navigation is organized into four main sections. Since user experience and SEO go hand-in-hand, optimizing one is usually beneficial for the other however, creating a clear and streamlined user experience should always be priority #1 for web designers.Ĭheck out this post to learn more about the important relationship between web design and SEO. The secondary goal of website navigation is SEO. This is especially important for larger websites that have many subpages spread throughout multiple higher level category pages. The primary goal of website navigation is to create a streamlined user experience.
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🤑 FREE Web Design Workshop 👉 Enroll Now! 🤑 Confusing navigation is a red flag to search engines because it indicates a poor user experience. When search engines index a website, they rely on the site's navigation in order to understand the context of each page and how they relate to one another. In addition to user experience, website navigation also contributes to SEO, or search engine optimization. The purpose of it is to guide users to where they want to go in as few steps as possible. Website navigation refers to the link structure and hierarchy of a website. What is website navigation and why is it important?
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