To this end, site designers and SEOs go to great lengths to simplify the infrastructure that forms the underpinnings of a web site. Web sites are constructed using HTML code, a simple computer code that defines how spiders assess a web site for relevance given certain search words, called key words.
But SEO involves more than just being recognized by search engines (there are more than 4,000 of them currently operating on the W3, by the way). It's just as important that an optimized site be completely and accurately indexed by search engines. If a site is mis-indexed or partially indexed, it won't appear on the SERPs regardless of how well the infrastructure behind the site is optimized.
What is Site Navigation?
Site navigation is made up of all of the "road signs" used within a web site to assist visitors in finding the information they're looking for. Elements of site navigation include things like navigation bars, buttons, embedded text links, tabs and other "click on" devices used by visitors to navigate through the different pages of a web site.
Now, given that SEO is intended to optimize a site for search engine spiders and site navigation is intended to help humans find their way around, it might seem somewhat incongruous that SEO and site navigation have much in common. However, they are most certainly connected.
Site Navigation and SEO
To put it bluntly, search engine spiders are dumber than a bucket of mud. They don't think, they're unable to place site content within any context and they lack the ability to determine narrowly-defined site purposes and functions. In fact, even with the complex algorithms (mathematical formulae) employed by today's search engines, it still comes down to key word selection, key word density and key word placement within the HTML coding when it comes to indexing a site.
A site with the key words "pet, pet supplies, pet food, dogs, cats, fish" and other similar key words will be indexed as a pet store or pet supply company and, as such, will appear on the SERPs when a user enters the key words "pet supplies," etc. A site owner who chooses inaccurate key words pays a price in the lack of search engine-driven traffic, as in fewer visitors.
So, how can you be assured that your site is completely and accurately indexed?
Spiders Follow Links
Just like human visitors, search engine spiders follow links within a web site. So, a link off the menu bar to the About Us page will be followed by both humans and search engine spiders. And the more links on the site, the more completely and accurately the site will be indexed.
So, if a site's navigation links are easy to follow for humans, they'll be easier to follow by search engine spiders.
Links direct humans and spiders whenever they visit a site.
Gray and Black Hat Tactics
Black hats (from the old movie westerns in which good guys wore white hats and bad guys wore black hats) are site designers, developers and owners who employ tactics that are intended to diminish the reliability of SERPs, i.e., to fool search engine spiders.
How? Well, how about placing invisible text on a site's something frowned on by search engines. If a black hat places white text against a white background, it is invisible to human eyeballs but is easily seen and scanned by spiders. So, an unscrupulous owner can load up a site with keyword dense, invisible text hoping that spiders will get the picture.
Similar to invisible text is invisible links - links that can be seen by spiders but not by humans. This falls into the "gray hat" category and it works like this: we've all come to expect text links to appear in a different color from the rest of the site text. The ubiquitous blue text usually identifies to visitors a link to another page within the site or to another site altogether. We've all seen these text links and clicked on them to navigate our way through a web site.
But what if that blue text link wasn't blue at all? What if it was the same color as the surrounding text? Spiders would follow the links but humans wouldn't be aware of them because they'd blend in with the rest of the site content. Harmful? Not really. Intended to fool spiders? No. Invisible links are intended to keep spiders on site for as long as possible. The longer a spider stays on a site, the more pages of that site will be indexed in the search engine. Site owners want to keep spiders around as long as possible to ensure the most complete indexing.
Gray-barred
When black or gray hat tactics are detected by spiders, a site may be penalized in page rank, may only be partially indexed or may be gray-barred - the term used when a site is dropped from a search engine entirely. When a site is gray-barred, it's essentially invisible to visitors. The site owner may as well put up the "Going Out of Business" sign because s/he is going to do just that - go out of business.
The Road Map to Successful SEO
Design your site's navigation for humans. Keep it simple and keep it honest. For example, if a navigation tab is labeled "Products" but it takes visitors to a page full of sales hype, you'll lose points with the search engine based on the correct assumption that you're trying to fool the visitor and the spider.
Employ lots of text links, visible to humans and spiders. Again, spiders follow links. They keep the spider on site, indexing more pages. That's a good thing.
Keep links clearly and properly labeled. A mis-direct may get you in trouble with Google. It may also get you gray-barred and looking for a new line of work.
In a nutshell, if your site's navigation is simple, clear and straightforward, you visitors will appreciate the simplicity with which they find desired information and search engine spiders will smile kindly on your site by indexing it accurately and completely.
In the real world we have lots of tools to help us get from here to there - maps, street signs, global positioning systems, address books and other helpful tools make navigation easy. However, that's not always true in the virtual world of the W3. Getting from Point A to Point B on your web site may not be as easy as you think.
What Is Site Navigation?
In fact, it is the digital equivalent of the maps, street signs and other means we employ in the real world to move about. And, it is a critical, often overlooked, aspect of site design. The ability of site visitors to get from here to there on any website is a key component to site success, which may explain why 94% of all web sites crash and burn. People can't find what they're looking for!
A well-considered site navigation system has an effect on everything from SEO to conversion rate to W3C compliance - all important to long-term site success.
Site Navigation Road Signs
Most people (including site designers) think of site navigation as the road signs used to direct site visitors to the specific information they're looking for - whether it's a particular product, service or fact.
To direct visitors, designers employ a number of devices including a navigation bar (usually at the top of the page), flyout and dropdown menus, buttons, embedded text links, zone page links, tabs and other tools that help visitors move about a site.
However, even the best-designed sites may have navigation problems that go undetected until a metrics analysis of site traffic is undertaken. How do visitors find the site? How many pages do they view? How long do they stick around? Do they perform the site's most desired action (MDA)? All of these questions are tied to the effectiveness of a site's navigation and the visitor's ability to move about without a lot of backtracking and mis-clicks.
In one case, a disproportionate number of visitors put something in their shopping carts but failed to reach the checkout to actually make the purchase. After an analysis of site activity was undertaken, it was determined that the link to the check-out wasn't displayed prominently enough on each products page. With a little redesign, the site saw a substantial increase in conversion rate - and a lot fewer half-full shopping carts that never reached the checkout.
When Is Too Much Too Much?
Can there ever be too many site navigation markers? You bet, and it happens to even the best of them.
Amazon.com was the first to employ the tab system of navigation, using a row of tabs across the top of the homepage to direct visitors to books, CDs and other items sold by this on-line behemoth retailer. And it worked well in the beginning, but that was because Amazon only sold a few types of products.
As the company added more products to its offerings, each required a new tab at the top of the home page. So, Amazon kept adding more and more tabs until, in 2000, there were 14 different tabs in two rows running across the top of the screen. It was confusing to visitors who were looking at a very cluttered home page - even by Amazon standards.
Since the tab disaster, the company has gone to dropdown menus and flyouts to direct visitors, eliminating the number of "street signs" that appeared on the Amazon homepage.
It is, indeed, possible to provide too much navigation information, which is just as bad as too little direction.
The Basic Principle of Site Navigation
Enough but not too much.
Sounds simple, but in fact, it's difficult to determine when and where navigation tools should appear. In recent years, the top site design firms have turned to contextual site navigation to assist (and even encourage) visitors to complete the site's MDA.
Contextual navigation provides only that information the visitor needs or wants from that location within the site and at that time. So, instead of having 14 tabs, sites employ series of dropdown, flyout and image menus that appear within the context of the visitor's location within the site and the navigation information requested by the visitor.
Think of it this way. If someone asked you for directions to a local restaurant, you wouldn't start by telling them to first go to a country, a province or state, a town, a street and then a street address. Instead, you'd provide directions based on the context of the lost individual - where s/he is now and where s/he wants to go. You don't need a world atlas to find directions to a local eatery.
Site navigation should be as simple as possible while, simultaneously, providing directions required by visitors. And that takes planning - lots of it.
SNO - "Site Navigation Optimization"
The days of "one-size-fits-all" site navigation are long gone. Visitors expect directions to be clear and concise. Button links must be clearly labeled. The visitor should be able to get to the home page from anywhere on the site - no backtracking, please. An easily accessible, linked site map should be available from any page within the site. Anything less and the site's conversion rate is going to suffer.
Now, the chances of getting your site's navigation optimized as soon as you launch are small, though not impossible. The more likely scenario is to launch, test, measure and refine - aka tweaking.
There are numerous applications that will compile and analyze the activity of your site visitors. By adding a link here and re-labeling a button there, you'll gradually improve the site's navigation, which in turn, will improve the site's conversion rate.
Site success doesn't just happen. It requires good planning, a good business model and effective site navigation that points visitors to the site's MDA. Your site may be optimized for search engines, but if you haven't taken the time to perform SNO - site navigation optimization - you haven't realized the full potential of the pixels you have on the W3.
Radin Yousefi has sinced written about articles on various topics from SEO Search Engine Optimization, web development. Radin Yousefi is the CEO of . A software company creating some of the most popular tools for web site designers and developers. To learn more, v. Radin Yousefi's top article generates over 720 views. to your Favourites.