The web is an awfully strange place. Every day it seems that I find a website that forces me to ask the question: huh? There are actually people interested in that? What is amazing about the Internet is that it has developed, at least at the lowest levels, into a place where people demonstrate their creativity in business, in art, in the written word, or in some specialty that you may have never heard of (have you heard of the Hassidic Jewish Reggae singer Matisyahu? Neither had I until yesterday.). The web is a giant showcase of individuals creations, whether its Jeff Bezos creating Amazon.com or your great aunt showcasing her needlepoint.

As diverse (or just plain weird) as each of these websites are, they all have a single goal: to be used by visitors. Successful websites are usable – that is, visitors do not have difficulty using the website as it was intended. At the root of a website's usability lies its navigation, and that is the subject of this article.

The navigation of a website is what drives its usability, it is the tool that you give your visitors to allow them to swing from page to page exploring your showcase. Poor navigation effectively strands your visitors giving them only one real option: to leave.

1.Give Your Site Roots

If you want to have a clear navigation system throughout your website, you need to start with a solid, well-organized, and clear site structure. This may be the single most important aspect of developing your entire website (not just the navigation). If you are unsure of the structure of your website, then you may find that your website actually lacks a necessary focus to be successful.

Try this exercise: in 5 minutes or less draw on a blank piece of paper a tree diagram of your website. Are you able to find the starting point? Were you able to include all the page on your site? (If you have thousands of pages I will understand if you didn't include all of them). Does your diagram look well-organized?

Good websites are structured. They have clearly defined sections, such as a general information section complete with a contact page, information page about the business or website, privacy information, etc, possibly a section for articles, or a section for shopping filled out with subsections for what people can shop for, or a section detailing the services that you offer. Before you evaluate your navigation, turn your website into a tree – diagram the structure of your site.

2. Provide Users with a Map

Sitemaps are often encouraged for their SEO benefits. It is well known that Google recommends that every website has a sitemap. Not only does a sitemap help search engine spiders like Googlebot find the pages on your site more quickly, it can also be a very useful tool for your website visitors.

A sitemap is exactly what it says it is: a map of your website. By just looking at a sitemap you should be able to get a good idea of how a site is structured. Most websites (as mentioned above) have major sections, and within these sections there are pages or subsections (which have their own pages or subsections). A sitemap will lay out this structure in an easy to use web-format.

The goal for your sitemap should be to make every single page on your site accessible within one click (if you have a very large site, you should aim to make every page accessible within two clicks). Once your sitemap is created, do not be afraid to link to it – your website visitors will appreciate having the option.

3. Consistency is Comforting

There are few things that are more frustrating for a website visitor than to come to a website, click on a link, then feel as if they have lost where they are because the entire navigation system looks different. If you were able to diagram the structure of your website successfully as suggested in the first point, you should have a good idea of what links should be consistent across all of your pages.

Certainly any website informational links (such as a link back home, a link to your contact page, etc) should be included on every page. Links to major sections of your website should be available on every page as well. As you move further along the tree diagram of your website you can add new links that are relatively close to where the visitor is, and drop those that are are unrelated, but you should never remove the most important links.

And although this may seem obvious, you should not turn your navigation into a shell game. Keeping the order of your links consistent from page to page will help your visitor keep their bearings.

4. Breadcrumbs Help Us Find Our Way Home

Breadcrumbs are a nice addition to any website, especially large websites. You have probably seen breadcrumbs before – they look similar to the image below:



The name breadcrumbs is actually derived from the fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel. If you remember the fairy tale, you'll no doubt remember that Hansel left a trail of breadcrumbs through the woods as a way to help him and Gretel find their way back home. And that is just what the breadcrumbs are doing on your website – they are giving your users a sure path showing them where they are and how they got there.

If you think about this in terms of the tree structure we created earlier of your website, breadcrumbs show exactly what branch of the tree we are on, and how that branch relates to the trunk of the tree (your homepage).

5. Navigation Should Not Be The Proverbial Haystack

I've never tried to search for a needle in a haystack, but I can imagine that it is extremely difficult. I have, however, visited websites that have so many links without any discernible order that it made finding the right link a nearly impossible task. Providing options to your users is good – in fact, it is encouraged, but links need to be organized.

Remember, successful websites are easy to use, and easy to use websites are well structured. The links which make up the navigation on your website is how your visitors will use your website (at least initially), so adding structure and layout to your navigation is just as important to your website as the design and content of your site.

If you have a lot of links on a page, do not let your visitors get lost in them, offer them some visual assistance. Separate your links into logical categories and label these categories with easy to read text.

6.Use Text, Use Text, Use Text – Oh, and Use Text!

Images are nice for formatting, flash can be fun, and javascript can add spice to a website, but using each of these as your navigation does not add to the functionality of your website. It is certainly understandable that website owners want a site that looks nice, and sometimes text can appear to be a boring way to present your website (although there are plenty of examples of nice text-based navigation over at Listamatic). But flash, images, and javascript all have their significant drawbacks.

The most frequently cited drawback to each of these navigation methods is that search engines cannot read them. With images, search engines do not see any anchor text (and thus have trouble determining what a link is about). With javascript search engines do not even see that a link is present as javascript is a client-side technology. And flash is a horrible combination of the two.

What might be more important than the effect that non-text links have on search engines is the effect it has on your visitors. Being that your navigation is the tool that your visitors use to get around your website, you want it to be functional, fast, and obvious. Text based links are always the fastest, most obvious, and normally the most functional style of navigation you can provide.

7. Provide Embedded Navigation

We have already talked about the need to provide consistent navigation to your visitors which implies that you will have a section on each of your pages dedicated to navigation, but providing navigation embedded within the content of your pages can also be very helpful for your visitors.

As an example, if you have a page which talks about the great service you provide (and I do not doubt that you provide a great service), you may want to invite people to contact you if you have any questions. Rather than just telling them to contact you and leaving them to search your site for a contact link (which should be easy to find since you are giving them consistent navigation), it would be better to provide them with a link within the content.

Take a Moment Now to Evaluate Your Navigation

Evaluating your navigation does not take a lot of time, but it does take an objective look at your website. Make your way over to your home page and take a look at the navigation – is it easy to use? Are you using javascript or images (heaven forbid you are using flash!). Is the navigation logical? Do you provide breadcrumbs to help your visitors know where they are on your website's tree diagram? Are you able, from your navigation, to create a logical tree diagram?

Navigation is what drives a website to be used. Search engines look for websites with strong navigation, and visitors find websites with clear navigation easy to use. Piecing together your website with a clear, easy to use, and obvious navigation will make your little, strange corner of the web just a little more inviting.

Did I miss any important aspects of effective navigation? Do you disagree with anything said here? I want your comments. A thread has been started in the forums which can be found here. (<-- embedded navigation)

About this author

Mark Daoust is the owner of Site Reference.

This article may be copied as long as all links and proper attribution is given. Please use the following link for attribution:

Getting Lost in Your Website

 

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