Better Website Navigation Optimization

By October 11, 2012Uncategorized

Optimizing Your Site’s Navigation Can Boost Your Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Efforts

 

Typically, basic Site Navigation is treated as a discipline that simplifies a site visitor’s movements throughout a website.  Advanced Site Navigation can promote increased navigation of your site which, in turn, can boost organic search traffic. That, of course, (a) enhances the popularity of links throughout your site while (b) sending relevant keyword signals to the site visitor, both of which are important to driving more thorough search traffic and sales. Navigation does more than merely shuttling customers around your site. In addition to its obvious usability and design functions, navigation can be optimized to improve organic search traffic.

Website navigation plays a very important, but sometimes overlooked, role in an enterprise’s marketing and public relations efforts.  Optimized Site Navigation (“OSN”) can make site visits from prospects, customers and/or clients more “user friendly” than simply pushing clients/customers around your site. In addition to its inherent utility and design characteristics, site navigation can be optimized to improve conventional search traffic. Optimized, or fine-tuned, navigation should enhance the likability factor of your entire site while projecting suitable keyword signals. Each of those characteristics is a very important ingredient in the specific formula that will generate search traffic and sales.

Experts in the field consider the cumulative effect of each link that flows into every page as the oxygenated blood of a site. In fact, many Search Engine Optimization (“SEO”) experts often call that lifeblood “link juice.” To keep the site healthy and able to appropriately employ as many keyword phrases as feasible, that link juice must be distributed throughout the site to feed every page. Internal links like navigation are the system of arteries and vessels that pass the link juice throughout the site.

Link juice doesn’t spread evenly across a site. Most of the link juice for many sites comes into the home page as the default place to connect to. Think of the home page as the heart: a big pooling of vital link juice. The farther away you get from the home page, the less link juice is passed on. Each page along the step keeps a share for itself and passes on a lesser amount. The pages at the end of the line end up with the smallest fraction.

When a page has earned links from other external sites it becomes another pool of link juice. In some cases a resource or tool your site offers can become an even stronger pool of link juice than the home page. Well-optimized website navigation ensures that those pools of link juice share their strength with the rest of the site.

Your global website navigation, the links that appear in the templates on every page of a site, should be configured to bring viewers to the pages that have the most link juice. Because it is found on every page, global navigation is the best tool to ensure that link juice is passed fairly evenly to your core pages. Typically, these include category and subcategory pages that will target higher level and more valuable keyword phrases. As new tools or resources are introduced and begin to earn links, working those pages into the global navigation will assure ensure that their link juice will permeate the site. 

 

Cornerstone Consulting Offers Cutting-edge Website and E-commerce Site Design, Development and Search Engine Optimization

If your small or midsized business could benefit from having a highly-skilled team of site designers and/or e-commerce web developers provide you with a state-of-the-art website and navigation platform, then you’ve found the right company. Our web developers create eye-catching, interactive and professional business websites and e-commerce sites. You can rely on our team to provide your business with cutting-edge: website design, e-commerce site development, social networks campaigns, marketing and search engine optimization, and more. 

We’d be happy to show you all of the ways Cornerstone Consulting can help you drive more web traffic to your business and increase sales.  If you don’t have time to call (813) 321-1300 now, no worries – we know you are busy. Please feel free to complete the brief form within the Contact Us page, and tell us a convenient time to contact you. We’ll gladly reach out to you. We’re looking forward to connecting with you!

Source: http://tinyurl.com/cduj3ea

Leave a Reply