Here are some tips for making the most user-friendly navigation bar you can (considering that good user experience helps boost SEO):
1. Consistency across pages
The best way to make a navigation bar easy to navigate is by having it be the same regardless of what page of the website the user is on. Think of this like a legend on a map. It would be pretty confusing if the sign for water changed every time you looked at it from a different angle.
2. Link the business logo to the Homepage
You know how most websites have a logo in the nav bar, typically top left (like WordPress)? It’s SEO good practice to have it lead to the home page when clicked on. It’s especially nice when it links to the top of the page.
3. Don’t have to many menu options
Too many menu options can be overwhelming and a sign of poor organization. Keep it to seven or less, where three to five is a good number.
4. Clarity over creativity
the main point of a nav bar is to help people find where they have to go. Less people are going to be confused if you name a nav bar option “dog food” instead of “pupper supper.”
5. Have a responsive design for all devices
Make sure to have a design that converts the nav bar to something usable regardless of if the user is using an iPhone or a pc. This could mean a burger drop down menu for phones, or a sticky nav bar that follows you down the page.
6. Use mega menus for extensive content
Do you have a website that has pet food for every animal? and perhaps grooming services as well? Well, having a drop-down menu appear when users hoover over the nav options can clearly organize all of the things people would want to see without being a headache.
7. Incorporate visual cues
some icons next to menu options can make things easier to find and make the search process more natural.
8. Have an accessible nav
Make sure that not only people on any device can access your nav, but people using screen readers and other adaptive tools as well. Alt text can help you here as well as good labeling and organization.
9. Have a nav search bar
Perhaps the user is looking for specific content that takes a few clicks to find, or they are just confused in general. A nav search bar is great user support and helps everyone out.
10. Add an AI chatbot for support
If all fails and your website doesn’t contain all of the info it might need, an AI chatbot can help users answer questions they have. Incorporating feedback in some way with this will be useful in finding holes to patch up in your site.
11. Test
After each update, use Google analytics to track progress and make sure to monitor user behavior. Did your update help as much as you thought it would? Time will tell.
If you’d like to read more about nav bar SEO or take a deeper dive, Intuitive Digital (the source for this article) has some information that might be of some help.
3 Responses
I loved the content in this post! I think it is super helpful for really anyone remotely interested in SEO. I really liked tip 5, Have a responsive design for all styles, I feel like this is a big issue for some companies but one I know that does this semi-well is D2L.
Hi there, I loved this post because it shows how you can make the most user friendly navigation bar and gives not just a couple but multiple ways of creating this and putting it into effect. Thank you for your post!
I like these tips, because it shows that simplicity is received way better than over-detailed information. Being clear and concise can make the understanding of certain content much easier. One thing to note, your subhead size could probably be a little smaller for better readability, but I like the intent of it to make a clear hierarchy!