Good practices for site navigation

Discussion in 'Google' started by atkins17, Dec 14, 2008.

  1. #1
    • Create a naturally flowing hierarchy - Make it as easy as possible for users to go from general content to the more specific content they want on your site. Add navigation pages when it makes sense and effectively work these into your internal link structure. Avoid:

    • creating complex webs of navigation links, e.g. linking every page on your site to every other page

    • going overboard with slicing and dicing your content (it takes twenty clicks to get to deep content)

    • Use mostly text for navigation - Controlling most of the navigation from page to page on your site through text links makes it easier for search engines to crawl and understand your site. Many users also prefer this over other approaches, especially on some devices that might not handle Flash or JavaScript.

    Avoid:

    • having a navigation based entirely on drop-down menus, images, or animations (many, but not all, search engines can discover such links on a site, but if a user can reach all pages on a site via normal text links, this will improve the accessibility of your site; more on how Google deals with non-text files)

    • Use "breadcrumb" navigation - 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. 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 an HTML sitemap page on your site, and use an XML Sitemap file - A simple sitemap page with links to all of the pages or the most important pages (if you have hundreds or thousands) on your site can be useful. Creating an XML Sitemap file for your site helps ensure that search engines discover the pages on your site. Avoid:

    Looking more information : http://seogurutips.blogspot.com/
     
    atkins17, Dec 14, 2008 IP
  2. cormac

    cormac Peon

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    #2
    Content stolen directly from Google. :rolleyes:

    Original source of this information can be found on their PDF file listed here.
     
    cormac, Dec 14, 2008 IP
  3. WishBone

    WishBone Peon

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    #3
    And put them in an "SEO Guru" blog?!
     
    WishBone, Dec 15, 2008 IP