Functional Website Navigation is a Question of Balance...
While some approaches may give visitors the functionality
they are looking for, they may as well be invisible as
far as search engines are concerned.
For instance, if a site’s
internal links make use of JavaScript or Flash, most search
engines simply cannot decipher, categorize, or even follow them, although
Google has been able to read Flash to a certain degree for some time. 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 to your website's main categories on each
page.
The same applies if you are using an image based
navigational system, since picture links are not assigned
the same relevance as text by search engines, simply because a search engine is actually unable to ascertain what an image link is actually
about, especially if that image does not have an specified in its HTML tag.
There are few things that irritate visitors more than having to hunt for
a web site's 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.
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 from your site, since aggravated visitors are
rarely inclined to buy things.
This may seem like obsolete advice
But you
may be surprised about how many companies (sometimes even
international brands such as Casio) will launch web sites
which require a concerted effort by Alan Turing and Salvador
Dali to unravel their navigational mysteries.
Lastly, as we’ve
stated before elsewhere in our web design articles, be
sure to provide an HTML sitemap, as this presents both visitors
and search engine spiders with a sure-fire means of finding all your website's pages, should your website navigation system fail.
XML sitemaps can also be important when trying to get Google's attention. for details.
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