Are dropdown menus bad for SEO
-
I have an ecommerce shop here: http://m00.biz/UHuGGC
I've added a submenu for each major category and subcategory of items for sale. There are over 60 categories on that submenu. I've heard that loading this (and the number of links) before the content is very bad for SEO. Some will place the menu below the content and use absolute positioning to put the menu where it currently is now. It's a bit ridiculous in doing things backwards and wondering if search engines really don't understand. So the question is twofold:
(1) Are the links better in a bottom loading sidemenu where they are now?
(2) Given the number of links (about 80 in total with all categories and subcategories), is it bad to have the sidemenu show the subcategories which, in this instance, are somewhat important? Should I just go for the drilldown, e.g. show only categories and then show subcategories after?
Truth is that users probably would prefer the dropdown with all the categories and second level subcategories, despite the link number and placement.
-
Someone has an answer to this simple question? I have the same doubt.
-
My question is mostly directed about the impact on search engines, not about clickthrough ratios, etc. although I appreciate the comments. I've decided to potentially offer a submenu on the top horizontal area instead of optionally placing it on the side, which may not be as obvious. Some say it's fine there but let's say the submenu seemed like a good offering. The issue is whether all those links placed before content will have an effect on SEO. I have seen repeatedly discussions about how having your most important content up at the top as high as possible is most important. Having this many links above the main content is a big question mark - and that's the question here:
Q: Since a submenu will have at least 70+ links in it, is it an SEO liability if it is placed before the main content on a page loads?
-
Another point is the way the menus display and the speed in which they drop down. Along with the colours of the text which can also be a very important factor in click through ratios.
-
You want to link to as many pages from the home page as possible. Gary makes a good point that people do think they have to choose a child menu item when they see a dropdown.
But as a SEO point of view drop downs are fine. And as I said get as many pages linked from the home page as possible
http://perthseocompany.com.au/seo/tutorials/a-simple-explanation-of-pagerank -
I would say you will not have any problems from an SEO point of view but from my experience showing new clients and people new to sites with the drop down menus they can be misleading.
The drop down reveals the pages but the main page that is acting as the parent of the other pages is sometimes overlooked as people don't realise they can still click on that.
I speak to people on the phone - hundreds of people and show them sites and time and time again I have to remind them they can click on the main parent button .
We are considering changing this as a result.
-
I believe that google is smart enough to tear the wrapper off of a website in a way that leaves naked content.
While a lot of people do what you are proposing and may gain some benefit from it, I think that the benefit is very small.
It's another case (in my opinion) of allowing the minute details of SEO to have an undo level of control over how you run your website.
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
-
SEO suggestions for a directory
Hi all, I am new to SEO. I work for a ratings and review website, like TripAdvisor and LinkedIn. How would one go about setting up SEO strategy for national directories that have local suggested pages? What can be a good practice. For example, Tripadvisor has many different restaurants across the UK. What would they do to improve their SEO? How do they target correct links? How do they go about building their Moz Score? Would really appreciate your thoughts and suggestions. Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Eric_S
Eric0 -
Mirrors Hosting SEO
Hello, I notice that some sites do provide hosting for mirroring file downloading for cpanel, apache and other big developers. I assume that benefits of it is link building but look at this site: http://apache.mirrors.hoobly.com/ Hoobly provide mirrors for most developers but none of them are indexed by google for ex: http://apache.mirrors.hoobly.com/ So can someone explain why would be that or what is going on ? is that something hidden here ?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | eriklogo50 -
Is Q&A on a website good or bad for SEO?
I am considering adding a Q&A section to my website and I have a few questions for you PROs!: is it a good thing for SEO? Or a potential pitfall for SEO? If it is used often and users post relevant topics related to the website content, will it help the overall DA and websites SERP performance? Are there inherent risks for website security when using a Q&A? Are there any other questions I should be asking? I am using Joomla! 3.0 with Stackideas Easy discuss/easy social. Thanks for any advice! BB
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BBuck0 -
Domain Alias SEO
We have 5 domain alias of our existing sites
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | unibiz
All 5 domain alias are domain alias of our main site. It means, all domain alias will have exactly same site and contents
Like Main domain: www.mywebsite.com
DomainAlias: www.myproduct.com, www.myproduct2.com, www.myproduc3.com
And if anybody will open our site www.myproduct.com, it will open same website which I have in primary site what can i do to rank all website without any penalty....i s there any way? This is domain alias of in hosting industry Thanks0 -
SEO - I just do not seem to get it
Hello All, I came to the forum two weeks ago and prior to that studied SEO until my brain almost melted two weeks before. Now, I've read some great articles here on SEOMoz which have been fantastic. Mainly being this one: http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo. So anyway, I genuinely throught I got it about a week ago. Here's what I did: First I decided on my keyword: "PC Repair Sheffield". Then, I made a website and on-page optimizaed as best as I possibly could (Graded A on the SEOMoz on-page exam tool). So I decided firstly to add myself to the Independant newspaper Business Directory, because it's free and has a great domain authority. I then went to Yahoo answers, found a Question i knew the answer too and made a whole article on the question, I provided a really useful answer and put a link to my full answer in the 'Source' section. This was a NoFollow Link. Every week, I write a new article and put it in my 'Blog' page. In the articles, I like to cover some problem that I've encountered throughout the week, if, for example, I write about a Hard Drive I replaced in Sheffield, I write about that and link it to my 'PC Repair Sheffield' page. Every article contains a video from Youtube, which is another 'NoFollow' link. Past that, I just find forums which are preffereably not 'No Follow' links and try to help people by answering their questions, but putting more details on my site for them toi see, with a link. That is pretty much the extent of what I 'Get' so far. But I do read a lot of the posts on here and I'm always seeing the Experts on SEO criticise these things and say it's bad without actually explaining why, or how to improve this, or what to do instead in some kind of simple way? I mean, this blog i'm writing, is there really any point? It's unlikely anybody is going to see it, sharing it is just a rediculous assumption. Nobody shares a page on how to fix a hard drive from a local sheffield site. I don't think that NoFollow links are a waste of time, but that's my personal assumption. I think that makes it more natural in a way.. 'Write Fresh Content' and get natural links is a crazy suggestion, nobody is ever going to share it. It's just not the way the world works for small businesses. No task is easy, but none are impossible either, i know that I could do SEO, i'm just not entirely sure 'what to do'.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Paul_Tovey0 -
SEO Tools for Content Audit
Hi i'm looking for a tool which can do a full content audit for a site for instance - Find pages which: • Lack text content. • Finds pages with lengthy meta descriptions • Finds missing H1 tags or multiple H1 tags . • Duplicate meta descriptions. • Find images with no alt text Are there any tools besides the ones on SEMOZ which can enable me to do a full content audit on factors like these. Or any SEO audit tools out there which you can recommend. Cheers, Mark
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | monster990 -
Local SEO for franchises
I have a client who franchises an ice cream shop. It started in Utah and there are several stores there. They are ranking well for local searches based in Utah. Now they have opened a store in Federal Way, WA. How can I get the new location to rank for local keywords on the same website?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | fivestarfranchising0 -
What are the bing only SEO tactics?
Recently we realised that our client's SERPs were almost always lower on Bing.com and Bing (canada) when comparing with Google.com and Google.ca We want to know if there's different ranking or blocking factors for Bing and if someone had similar expriences. It would also be appreciated if you have releavent and trusted information on this topic, from blog posts, forums, etc. What are your thoughts on this?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | RichardPicard0