In an ideal world, every page on your website would be accessible from your site menu. But as a web developer or website owner, you probably know that the real world of websites is far from ideal. This is even less possible with fixed-width sites, themes that can hardly be changed without creating new problems, and so on. Nonetheless, the website menu is the most common aid in navigating your website and we all want to get the most out of it. Here, I'll cover a number of useful best practices that allow you to optimize your menu for both your users and your SEO.
What to know about the menus
First of all, I think we should forget about the assumption that a website can only have one menu. I think we've gotten used to the little links on the top bar of a website.
Like so many other websites, Greenday.com has a first menu in the black bar, while the red bar also contains a number of links to internal or external pages. Social profiles, Apple Music and Spotify links, but also a subscription to the newsletter.
Manhattan College has a clear second menu leading to internal pages, aimed at specific audiences. It just shows that these extra menus are everywhere.
My point here? Don't put everything on a menu. Doing this will clutter your main menu which is likely to be a poor reflection of your site structure. Focus on the most important content. For example: I like a 'Contact' link in a menu. But add that if only your primary goal is for your visiteurs contact you. Otherwise, this link can be placed in a second menu of the site without problem.
The disadvantages of having too many links in your website menu
Too many links anywhere on your page is not recommended. Yes, Google can allow up to 250 links and maybe even more on a page without any problem. But the purpose of your site is certainly not to overload your site with links to confuse the visiteurs. We therefore do not recommend that you:
- A cloud of labels (what's the point, really?)
- Long lists of monthly links to the blog archive
- Endless spiral archive pages with links to articles
- A hundred categories in a list (why so much!)
- Menus with submenus and sub-submenus and so on
Why do we recommend this? Having too many links on one page ruins the value of your link, for just one. With so many links on a page, every link on that page is a little less valuable to the page it is linked to. On top of that, it exudes your visitor's attention. With each link, you add a derivation from the main purpose of your site.
In my opinion, you must have a solid reason for adding more than one submenu. And if you feel like you need that extra level in your menu, watch how many clicks the menu gets and adjust as needed. I think it will be better to create good landing pages for your articles, for many cases.
The Perfect Menu
Of course, there is no template for “the perfect menu”. Much depends on your site and your goals. Either way, there are two important questions you should ask yourself when optimizing your menu:
- What is the best menu structure for my site?
- What menu items should at least be in my menu?
Two other tips we can give you is to use a drop down menu for important subitems. And don't add too many links to your menu, or they'll lose their value. Do you have any other tips for a good site menu? Let us know in the comments!
