Within this entry of the SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) Manual good site navigation is going to be explained, and how it can boost a websites ranking within the SERP’s (Search Engine Results Page). Navigation one of the key parts to any website. If a user can not navigate to other web pages of the website except the homepage then how are they going to view the website? - they wouldn’t be able to.
What is Good Navigation?
Good navigation doesn’t necessarily mean having some links on your page; it means having clear, identifiable links linking to the entire website. Using text that explains where the link goes to is much better than using an image you expect the user to decipher what it means before clicking it. An example of clean, simple navigation is our own website www.positiongoldltd.com. Designed for usability, simple yet concise buttons allow all pages within our website to be navigated to.
How does it boost rankings?
Having good site navigation means that human users can view all of the pages of the website; finding all the information that it has to offer. This can then start a linking process due to users liking what they find; they may send it to a friend and then they link to it and so on.
Search engines also benefit from the navigation as they can spider the whole website much easier. This ensures that the full amount your website has to offer is taken into consideration. Having good site navigation goes hand in hand with good site structure, once you have a good site structure your navigation should come naturally.
Summary
Good navigation is an essential for any website wanting to keep visitors on the website; and to keep visitors coming back. Good navigation is a natural progression from good site structure; one of the reasons why it helps search engines spider and index most, if not all of the web pages of a website.
This section of the SEO Manual covers the topic of Rewritten URL’s against Query String URL’s. There are a number of advantages of using rewritten URL’s instead of query string URLs.
Advantages of Rewritten URL’s
If as a user of a website you find a product you want to buy you would usually compare the prices of it against another website and opt for the cheapest option. Whilst visiting a number of websites you spot for example a TV you want for £399 at ‘www.cheaptvs.com/tv?brand=5productnum=8‘. You then leave that website and find the same TV everywhere else for £499; £100 more expensive than the one you saw earlier. You now try and find the website you previously saw the TV on for £399 but in your history you see a list of 300+ websites and none of them have the TV brand or model name in the URL; you can’t find it.
Having a rewrite on the URL would change ‘www.cheaptvs.com/tv?brand=5productnum=8‘ to ‘www.cheaptvs.com/tv/sony-bravia‘. This is a thousand times better for human users and search engines alike. A human understands that the URL is going to take them to a web page with a Sony Bravia TV on it - whereas previously they had no idea where to go. Search engines also benefit from rewrites due to the ability of adding keywords into the URL; which many SEO experts, including ourselves believe to have an impact on improving rankings within the SERP’s.
Disadvantages of Query Strings
Query strings are useful due to the fact that information can be dynamically generated on the fly by the press of a button. This causes some potential security, and duplicate content issues.
First off, the URL ‘www.cheaptvs.com/tv?brand=5productnum=8‘ can also be written - ‘www.cheaptvs.com/tv?productnum=8brand=5‘ which generates the exact same page as the one before it. This now means that there are two instances of the same web page creating duplicate content; which as we all know is frowned upon by the search engines and could get you penalised.
The next disadvantage, which can be eradicated by rewritten URL’s is the fact that they are useless to humans and search engines. A query string is anything but easy to read and informative and creates a ‘dirty’ looking URL.
Summary
Using a rewrite wherever possible is best practice - enabling humans and search engines to easily decipher what the web page that is directed to is about. Rewriting an entire web site which has been built without rewrites in mind can be a lengthy and complicated process, but is well worth the effort.
