There are several practices to make your website successful. Website Navigation is an important aspect of the website design process that directly allows users to interact with the website. An alone user experience can make or break your website. Therefore, it is always suggested to build a website with website navigation for smooth UX.
Easy navigation of the website not only makes access easy for the customer but also creates a flawless structure to seek the apt content. Let’s get started with everything on how to improve website navigation, why it is important and the best practices to achieve it in an accurate way.
What is Website Navigation?
Website Navigation refers to the flow of the site when you click through any resources provided on the website. For example, if you are looking for content, you click on the page and it navigates through the website using links. It is always believed that a good website is one with aesthetic representation and navigation to find accurate information.
You can enhance the journey of the Website using two ways. One is using Internal Links where pages are connected within the website. Another is using External Links where pages are connected with other relevant websites.
You need to be aware of the content you are linking with. If you provide or get links from irrelevant websites or pages, it is referred to as black hat SEO which is unethical. These kinds of tactics can cause trouble to your website.
What Makes Good Website Navigation?
A Good Website Navigation should always be easy to understand. A Proper content flow should be presented on the home page. A website navigation menu always starts from the main page. A section called header on the home page should include basic features like Home, About Us, details on Services and Products, Cost of the products delivered, Testimonials, Blogs, and Support or Contact Us.
Although pages are interconnected using internal links, the link flow available on the home page menu for the visitors is the most important to run a successful business. A good website navigation and user experience can help search engines index the fresh content on your website.
How to Optimize the Navigation of a Website?
Below mentioned 10 best practices help you to improve website navigation:
1. Plan Your Page Structure and Navigation
This is part of successful website navigation to ease user experience. This page structure and suitable navigation path have to be thought through even before initiating the content plan for the website.
Planning a satisfactory path and structure to navigate is an essential part of website navigation design. Navigation has to be quick enough to help the user to find what they are seeking on the website.
2. Tie Navigation with Business Priorities
A good Website design not only helps with navigation but also supports the goals of the business. Therefore, aligning navigation with the company’s standards surely meets the purpose of your business.
Website Navigation has to be focused on channelizing the users to the most important pages of the website which can lead to conversion and sales. Always make sure the path is precise and short. Too lengthy paths may push the user to lose the flow and so the business loses the potential customer.
3. Create A Separate Navigation for Different Audiences
This is a tricky part of designing where you need to focus on your target audiences. For example, in e- commerce business target audiences could be anyone from the age gap of 12 to 80. Creating one navigation for all categories of people becomes messy and also tedious for users. Therefore, it is always suggested to know your target audiences and how easily you can reach out to them with your services.
4. Use your User’s Vocabulary
Instead of assuming what the user wants, reach out to users to know what they are in quest of in your industry. Use language that is more convenient to understand by all users. You can make use of SEO to build user-friendly content which not only helps to attract more customers but also help you rank in SERP at the top.
5. Add Calls to Action
Placing a CTA in the right place creates a different persona of your business to visitors. CTA directs the visitors to end up where you want them to end up. The right placement of CTA always guides you to improve your click-through rate (CTR) and helps you turn more leads into customers, opined Webomindapps Toronto.
A few call to action that can be used in most industries ideal for all customers are forms, the share button, online help, sign up, download, and many more.
6. Limit The Number of Options in the Menu
Users who are in search of precise information, won’t have time to invest in your website. Therefore, having minimum yet impactful options helps to grasp users’ attention. Brief menus also index better in search engines, which assigns more authority to interior pages, driving more traffic to your website.
7. Make use of the Footer Menu
Not all, but there will be a few in quest of the information who went through your website from the header section and reached the footer section. Make complete use of the footer space and be comprehensive by including valuable content in the footer as well.
You can make use of footer space for subcategories, placing sitemaps, resources, careers, about us, and support as well. Also, you can give the description of a new page on your website to keep them informed and the website updated.
8. Place the Search Bar at the top of your website
When a user lands on your website, he wants to get hold of the information as soon as possible. A Search bar at the top of the menu helps him believe he is led in a direct direction without consuming his time. The ideal room for placing a search bar is either at the top of the sidebar or in the header.
9. Prioritize mobile navigation
Who doesn’t use phones in this generation? Of course none. Also, Google engine indexes and ranks the website based on their mobile version. Most users use their mobile phones to search the website and content of it. The Easier it is to access over the phone, the more customers flow.
As of a recent survey conducted by Statista in 2021, 70% of the global population uses the internet over mobile phones. And most users browsed on their mobile phones. Therefore, providing easy navigation on phones helps your website hold more customers.
10. Make Good Use of Colors and Avoid Dropdown Menus
Creative website navigation design can add aesthetics on your website. Using different colors and designs on your page creates a positive impact and helps identify the important features easily.
Another important object in website navigation design is to avoid dropdown menus on your website. The brand Apple has created a unique way to navigate customers using support rather than a dropdown. It has evidently resulted in a positive impact on the business and engaging proper communication.
What Are the Most Common Website Navigation Techniques?
There are three types of website navigation that ease customer access and enhance the capability of the website.
Hierarchical website navigation
This kind of website navigation varies based on the context of the page. For example, if you are accessing any news-related website once you go to a particular category, the menu changes based on the context you need to be provided.
On a few websites such as New York Times’ Science page, any top-level menu cannot be seen. Instead, they have provided links to different sub-sections of science research and articles.
Global website navigation
Global website navigation as the name suggests, the menu will be the same across the website under all categories. It is a simple and easy-to-understand navigation menu for better UX. Navigation in the footer section can be the best example of global website navigation.
Local website navigation
Local website navigation refers to the links provided in the content itself. Through links, he navigates to the website. This kind of navigation helps users to get information in depth and offers comprehensive knowledge of the topic that they are seeking.
Website navigation can appear on the website in different forms such as- Horizontal Navigation Bar, Dropdown Navigation Bar, Hamburger navigation Bar, Vertical Sidebar Navigation Menu, and Footer Navigation Menu.
Website Navigation Examples
Below mentioned are a few websites that can be considered with easy and impacting navigations:
News Website: New York Times
This website not only uses one particular navigation technique instead it made use of all three techniques based on their usability.
The Twenty Twenty WordPress Theme
It may be a default WordPress theme. However, it has a unique way of navigating the website.
For example, for the header they have used the horizontal navigation bar but the footer of the application has no links or any information but links To the top.
Conclusion
Any website can be created and developed but the importance of captivating the customers lies in web navigation. Website navigation has to be smooth and quick to hold customers to the website. To improve website navigation design, you not only provide a smooth user experience but also help improve your branding & marketing. Therefore, before even creating a content flow, plan the navigation for easy and quick access.
