Posted by on August 19th, 2010 View Comments
Posted in SEO - Search Engine Optimization |
In developing a website, you basically want to have your visitors visit your website and be able to get all the information that they need there. Of course, there is always the option of linking to other websites and redirecting your visitors there but this basically does nothing for your SEO strategies. Site navigation is basically the concept of making redirecting your readers to pages within your website.
Site navigation strengthens your website as a whole and puts focus on not only your homepage but also the pages within the website. Search engines are keen towards the page level focus of the pages from within a website. Site navigation gives some kind of structure to the pages of your website. It puts focus on the webpages and guides visitors and search engines so they could navigate your website easily. It is a critical factor in search engine optimization because it ultimately decides user experience and the quality of this user experience. It guides search engines on the structure of your website and gives them the idea of what pages are higher thus more relevant than others.
Explaining the Importance of Site Navigation Further
Here are the top reasons why site navigation is critical in the SEO process:
- To give out the pages’ relationship
A website basically has a lot of pages within it. It is very seldom that we see one website where everything is contained in one page and nothing more. Usually, links are used to help visitors be guided accordingly. Also, some pages may be talking about a topic that the reader would be interested on and usually this page will have a link to another article that is related to the topic and may also interest its reader.
Establishing these relationships is also important so that search engines may be guided accordingly especially when they are ranking your pages. It shows them which pages are related rather than having their algorithms determine these themselves which is not really accurate for that matter.
- To show the pages with more relevance
When we develop our websites, not all pages will be deemed with equal relevance. That is why establishing page relationships is important. The higher the page is in the hierarchy of things indicates the stronger importance you put to it. The links that support it are merely there to provide further info for readers but the main page will always be the most important one.
- Controls User Experience
As was said above, establishing site navigation makes it easier for user to browse through your website and find whatever info they might need. Putting links to the pages of your website where they can get additional information is always a plus not only in the eyes of your customers but for search engines as well.
You can basically improve user experience by planning carefully and strategically the information architecture of your site. An easier to browse and informative website is always the best way to keep customers.
The Importance of Information Architecture
Search engines basically employ set algorithms in ranking websites. You can help your SEO cause by having well-built information architecture in place through proper site navigation techniques. This way you will not be at the mercy of the search engine bots and you would also be polishing your website structure for your visitors’ use. Web developers should always have their customers’ interests in mind.
