How To Create Great Website Navigation

Simple Website Navigation

The single most important aspect to keep in mind when building a site is to keep it simple. People are not on your site for a wild goose chase. Don’t require visitors to have to think about where they need to go and how to get there.

In fact, more than three-quarters of survey respondents from a HubSpot study said that the most important element in website design is ease in finding information.

How To Create Great Website Navigation

Simple Navigation Example

Mailchimp Navigation

Raven SEO

Bottom line – if people can’t find what they are looking for immediately, they will give up and leave your website – and statistics have proven that they will never return. This means you have one opportunity to make an impact.

The Basics to Great Navigation

There’s a little more to it than that as well but since we practice what we preach here at Studio C5 – here are the basics to building a great navigation:

  • You should have the same navigational menu on every page of your website. Keep it simple with a consistent “top 5-6”.
  • This navigation menu should consist of “home,” leading to the homepage, right under the logo on the top left of the page, and four to five other main components / categories of your site to the right of that
  • Provide location-based feedback by using breadcrumbs, matching the hyperlink text to the destination page’s heading that you are directing them to
  • Include a search box next to the “top nav,” so visitors can search by keywords.
  • Limit the number of navigation options on each page

Top Navigation Example

  • Don’t use JavaScript – especially Flash. Many mobile phones can’t see it.
  • Use descriptive, non-deceptive keywords for the anchor text and page name so that visitors get what they expect when clicking on a hyperlink
  • Include more detailed navigation in the footer of your site that is also on every page. There should always be a link to a relevant site map here as well

Bottom Navigation Example


Need Some Help With Your Website Navigation?

Request a free digital marketing consultation.