A Search Engine Friendly Structure
The structure of a website should be friendly for both the search engines and for the user. If it isnt then problems may arise.
The user decides here if he/she wants to look further into the site.
The Importance of a correct website structure
There is nothing worse when using a site and getting lost!!
Your site needs to have a structure which allows the user to find his/her way around easily.
Using a complicated navigation system such as a drop down/fly out javascript navigation can confuse the user.
Indicate to the client/user at all times where he/she is, the following can help:
- Breadcrumb navigation
- Emphasizing the navigation point
- Use a page title
You can see that we at Creative Xperience use all of the three points listed above.
Our "Breadcrumb Navigation" can be found directly above the main content area. The "Navigation Point" is now emphasised (left in Orange) showing where I am in relation to the other pages. A "Page Title" is being used, to emphasise which page we are now on.
These points help in every way. There is no perfect solution, but after trial and error these three points are always very helpfull.
Local Sitemap(s)
Providing a sitemap or multiple category sitemaps is always a plus point. If the user does not want to search the complete site, they can go directly to the sitemap and click on the linked page that they require.
A sitemap also helps with on-page optimisation. When the sitemap is indexed/cached by the search engines then all of the links within that page will be followed and the search robot will then eventually index all of the pages found within the sitemap. This is helpful especially for sites that have numerous amounts of pages that are not easily cacheable e.g e-Commerce solutions
Sitemaps should always be descriptive and factual, it doesnt help having a link list and you still dont know where you are or even where you are going to be sent.
Our sitemap is a replica of the main navigation found on the left hand side of this page, it includes all of the subcategories from each individual main section, thus giving the user the option to go directly to the page that they want to read/look at.
