Within SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) there are a few things that do not actually help; no matter how pretty it makes the website - Java navigation is one of these.

So what is Java Navigation?

Java navigation is the use of Javascript; a scripting language used to create such things as pop-up windows and to validate information but in this case a menu. Quite a nice language to use if used correctly. Javascript is used to create drop down menus; an alternative to CSS menus and Flash menus etc. These drop down menus mean more menu options are available for the user; which in turn enables the administrator to categorize the website content more easily.

Why is it bad for SEO?

Javascript is not always ‘bad’; but when talking about navigation it is. The main reason is that Java navigation is unreadable to the search engine spiders; as are images and Flash. If a purely text based menu was created (such as CSS) then the search engine spiders would be able to read the links within the menu and index them much better. Links within the navigation menu are great especially if the text contains a keyword; search engines can read this and index it as relevant content and in turn eventually improve your rankings.

I want to keep my Java Navigation though…

If you would like to keep the Java Navigation then that is up to yourself; results may not be improved as much but there are a few things you can do to combat it. Text links to main pages within your website must be on the web pages - Java navigation or not. If this is a list of links at the bottom then great; or if it’s another way great - but they must be plain text. Sitemaps also help to point the search engines in the right direction - XML an HTML.

Summary

Try not to use Javascript for navigation; it just doesn’t help with the SEO. If you MUST have it (there is no reason as CSS is just as usable; if not more) then follow the steps above to make your website as search engine friendly as possible.

In a word: “Don’t”. Yes, flash might look pretty and have lots of fancy animation to impress/annoy your users. But from an Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) point of view, there is nothing worse. I am not just saying this because I can’t work with flash, quite the opposite as you will see later in the year. Flash does have its place on the web, just not for navigation or text, and there is a very good reason for this. Up until recently Google, amongst others, has had a really hard time deciphering text and links within a Flash based file. This is because unlike other web languages, Flash is image based and not text based. There lies the problem, all search engine algorithms use text for their results, as it is quantifiable. I.e Words have a multitude of meanings where images don’t. To decipher content and links from an image, means a whole different set of rules to that of all of the other web languages, which are text based. Google has recently made improvements to how they understand Flash, by taking image segments and deciphering the text/links within the image. This is still only in its infancy and the other major search engine are miles behind. Therefore, using Flash as the navigation for your site will seriously impair the search, when it comes to finding the links between pages. This then brings up the other factors of the web PageRank(link equity). Link equity, I.e The values of a link to a given page, make up an important part of Googles ranking system. This is impaired using Flash as Google has problems in finding the links within the flash image.

It is not all doom and gloom for pretty navigation, as CSS which is a text based web language, has now got to the stage were it is possible to make fancy navigation which could only previously be done in Flash. Therefore, it is possible to have your cake and eat it, but you will need a developer with an advanced CSS knowledge, the more fancy you want your navigation to be.