Web Site Navigation; is yours visitor and spider friendly?
Published: 29th September 2006
A visitor and spider-friendly web site navigation
system is one of the most important, yet frequently
misunderstood aspects of competent web design.
It allows visitors easy access to every part of your site,
whilst providing search engine spiders with a path to
index it comprehensively.
Without clear-cut, easy
to use navigation between your site’s pages, visitors
will soon become frustrated and decide to leave your site
in search of something worthwhile.
But it’s not quite
as simple as that.
Whilst some approaches give visitors the functionality
they are looking for; they may as well be invisible as
far as search engines are concerned.
If a site’s
internal links make use of JavaScript or Flash, search
engines simply cannot decipher and follow them, although
Google is able to read Flash to a certain degree.
Consequently, if you are using either of the above two
for your site’s
main navigation system, you would be well advised to supplement
this with a full set of text-based hyperlinks on each
page.
The same applies if you are using an image based
navigational system, since picture links are not assigned
the same value by search engines as text since it is often
difficult to ascertain what an image link is actually
about, especially if it does not have an alt tag.
Furthermore, few things annoy visitors more than having to hunt for
a web site navigation system.
When designing a site, ensure
that all navigational links are placed where visitors
will expect them.
Although hiding your links within a graphic or, better
still, putting them in the bottom right-hand corner of
the page in a really small font on a multicoloured background
may seem like a new and interesting way of handling web
site navigation, it does absolutely nothing to improve
your visitor’s disposition towards
your site.
If it doesn’t do what it says on the tin,
visitors become irritated.
When confronted with a link labelled ‘Home Page’ the reader (quite
rightly) expects to be taken to your web site’s homepage.
By sending them off, accidentally or purposely, to another
part of your web site (even if this is your best sales
page), you are vastly reducing the chances of them making
a purchase on your site since aggravated visitors are
rarely inclined to buy things.
All this may seem like obsolete advice, but you
may be surprised at how many companies (sometimes even
international brands such as Casio) will launch web sites
which require a concerted effort by Alan Turing or Salvatore
Dali to unravel their mysteries.
Lastly, as we’ve
stated before elsewhere in our web design articles, be
sure to provide a sitemap, as this present both visitors
and search engine spiders with a sure-fire means of web
site navigation, should all else fail.
XML sitemaps are also vital to success with Google, contact
us for information.
Solid Web Site Navigation is essential for visitors
and search engines alike.
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