Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Html 5 main and secondary navigation for SEO best performances
-
I am building a website which will have a main navigation related to the site and each link of the main navigation will have a secondary navigation. We do not want to use a megamenu style navigation. I will try to explain it with a example:
Let's start with an example for a computer store "My PC Store", the Main Navigation would be:
Desktop PC's Notebook & Tablets
MultimediaWhen clicking on the "Notebook & Tablets" the user is directed to the page domain.com/notebook-tablet.html and on this page the secondary navigation appears: Laptop Netbook Tablets / iPad I am confused on how I should organize the semantic navigation for best SEO performances and I need advice / suggestions. I thought about 2 different ways to do it but which one is more appropriate in terms of SEO? PROPOSITION A Home Page:
<header>
My PC Store <nav>
- Desktop PC's
- Notebook & Tablets
- Multimedia </nav> </header>
Sub-Page (Notebook & Tablets):
<nav>(or
<aside>?)
- Desktop PC's
- Notebook & Tablets
- Multimedia </aside>
</nav>
<header>
Notebook & Tablets <nav>
- Laptop
- Netbook
- Tablets / iPad </nav> </header>
As you notice on the home page the Main Site Navigation is included in the
<header>while it is not in the sub-pages.
PROPOSITION B
Home Page:
<header>
My PC Store
<nav>
-
Desktop PC's
-
Notebook & Tablets
-
Multimedia
</nav>
</header>
Sub-Page (Notebook & Tablets):
<header>
Notebook & Tablets <nav>
- Desktop PC's
- Notebook & Tablets
- Multimedia </nav> # Notebook & Tablets * Laptop
- Netbook
- Tablets / iPad </header>
The main navgation remains always in the
<header>(home page / sub-pages) of all page.
I need suggestions... How would you guys organize the nav ?
</header>
</header>
-
Apologies, typed that up wrong. Have updated above post.
-
Why are you inserting
outside
<header>?</header>
-
My apologies. I would go with the following example in order to maintain a good SEO with your webpage headers and also a solid navigation:
Home page:
<header>
My PC Store
<nav>
-
Desktop PC's
-
Notebook & Tablets
-
Multimedia
</nav>
</header>
Sub Page:
<header>
<nav>
Notebook & Tablets
*** Desktop PC's**
- Notebook & Tablets
*** Multimedia**
</nav>
</header>
**<nav>
- Laptop
- Netbook
- Tablets / iPad </nav>**
Hope this helps.
Matt.
-
-
OK but you don't answer to my question since we do not want any mega menu or drop down menu.
-
This is true if it is wrapped within JavaScript, so that the search engines cannot read it. However, if you use two separate navigation menus then you can negate this problem.
Also, if you were to code up the 'mega menu' style navigation with CSS3 then you could also avoid these crawling problems and make the navigation much more search-engine friendly.
In general, I try to avoid using sub-pages within site to extend navigation (unless it is completely different product areas or business verticals).
Matt.
-
Well there are in general SEO concerns in the use of navigation Mega Menu style and this is why we want to avoid it.
-
Hi There,
I think I have got the jist of what you're trying to achieve.
What I would recommend is that you have links to Desktop PC's, Notebook & Tablets, Multimedia, Laptop, Netbook, Tablets / iPad directly from your homepage. The reason being that this will allow the search engines to crawl your webpages easier and the subcategory pages won't be so deep within the domain.
What I mean is that I would use either a drop down list, so that when the Notebook & Tablets is hovered over, the subcategories are then displayed below it. Alternatively, you could have a secondory naviagtion on the homepage, i.e. with an extensive drop-down list lower down or at the side of the webpage.
Great examples of this type of navigation can be found on: http://www.ebuyer.com or http://www.musicmatters.co.uk/shop.html (look at the secondary nav on the right for the Music Matters shop page.
I hope this helps.
Matt.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
How is Single Page Application (SPA) bad for SEO
Hi guys. I am quite inspired of SPA technique. It's really amazing when all your interaction with the site is going on the fly and you don't see any page reloads. I've started implementing the site with this instruction and already found nice guys to make the design. The only downside of the using SPA which I can see **is the **SEO part. That's because the URL does not really change and different pages don't have their unique URL addresses.
Web Design | | Billy_gym
Actually they have, but it looks like: yoursite.com/#/products yoursite.com/#/prices yoursite.com/#/contact So all of them goes after # and being just anchors. For Google this mean all of these pages is just yoursite.com/ My question is what is really proven method to implement the URL structure in Single Page Application, so all the pages indexed by Google correctly (sorry I don't mention the other search engines because of market share). The other question, of course, is examples. It will be great to see real life site examples, better authority sites, which use SPA technique and well indexed by search engines.1 -
Have an eBook. What is best practice for SEO?
Hello We have a free eBook - its a great resource and great piece of content. It is available to download on our website here - http://re-timer.com/the-product/how-to-sleep-better/ The book is available as a whole or as individual chapters (i.e. http://re-timer.com/app/uploads/2015/07/Chapter8.pdf?b0df38). The PDF chapters appear to be doing well in Google search for certain keywords. I can't measure this in GA though. I would like the eBook to assist the SEO of my website overall. If I create a web page and 'embedded' the PDF into it will Google still crawl this page? At the moment we are also using this to collect email addresses, this is a nice to have and it is OK if people get the eBook without doing this (if they find a chapter in Google they currently don't have to enter their email address). I'm sure lots of people have eBooks now. What is best practice and the best way to use this as a tool to maximise SEO for the whole website (http://re-timer.com)? Thank you! Laura
Web Design | | LauraFalls1 -
Will SASS ruin my SEO?
Hello, I am thinking about using SASS for my website, striping the current CSS style sheets and translating it all to SASS.. will this hurt my SEO?
Web Design | | DanielBernhardt0 -
How to optimize SEO value of links in a calendar
Hi All- I am building a website about outdoor activities (cycling, kayaking, hiking, etc.). The site will most likely be built with either Joomla or Wordpress. A key piece of the site will be a calendar of upcoming events. The calendar will list the basic attributes of each event like date, time and location. However if an event has a webpage of it's own I will also include a link to that page in the details of the event. My question is: How can I create a calendar that will capitalize on the SEO value of the links included in the event descriptions? I've noticed many similar sites put events into a Google calendar and then embed the Google calendar into their webpage. In that situation would Google even see any external links included in the descriptions of the events? Thanks in advance for any input. -Chris
Web Design | | 1968Rouleur0 -
What is the best tool to view your page as Googlebot?
Our site was done with asp.net and a lot of scripting. I want to see what Google can see and what it can't. What is the best tool that duplicates Googlebot? I have found several but they seem old or inaccurate.
Web Design | | EcommerceSite0 -
CSS vs Javascript vs JQuery drop down navigation
For a user / seo perspective, what is the best way to code a drop down menu nav bar? Is it best to use css, javascript or a scripting library like jquery? I am thinking about overall best practice that will not have a negative impact on serps. I am also thinking about what will work best on all types of devices i.e. desk tops, lap tops, smart phones and tablets. What are the Pro's & Cons of Using CSS for Drop Down Menus. What are the Pro's & cons of using Javascript for drop down menus. And the same question for jquery. Thank you all in advance for your ideas.
Web Design | | bronxpad0 -
Pages vs. Posts for SEO
Hi, I would like your thoughts about pages vs. posts for SEO. I understand the difference in terms of WP structure and have read the SEOmoz blog post about setting up your site for SEO success (http://www.seomoz.org/blog/setup-wordpress-for-seo-success). However, if you're trying to rank for a particular keyword, it seems that either one could work, from an on-page SEO perspective, as far as title tag, URL, meta description, etc. So how do you decide whether to set up a page vs. a post? What are the pros and cons, from an SEO perspective, about using one vs. the other? Thanks in advance! Carolina
Web Design | | csmm0 -
Does using Wordpress Multisite have any negative SEO impact?
I manage multiple websites in Wordpress and the idea of managing them all under one Wordpress install is very attractive. Are there any dangers SEO-wise to doing so? I know that all of the sites would live under the same IP address, but that's not something I'm really concerned with anyway because I don't do a lot of inter-linking between the sites. Thanks for your help! -El Juano
Web Design | | JonathanFashbaugh0