Navigation is how visitors get around your site. If your navigation is unclear then your visitors will get frustrated and go away. If they do that, you'll make a lot less money with your website.
So the goal with website navigation is to make it clear and consistent. I prefer a simple navigation strategy. Keep it simple for humans and it will be fine for Google.
In general, my sites work like this.
The home page is optimized for my main keyword phrase. That's what I call my tier 1 phrase. My tier 1 page links to my tier 2 pages via a navigation bar. Tier 2 phrases are those keyword phrases that tend to be natural groups for all of your other keywords.
If you have a site on dog training and six or seven good keyword phrases that have to do with training Yorkies, then your tier 2 phrase for that group would be something like "training Yorkies." It's been shown that navigation bars down the left-hand side of the page work best. Although, I do have a number of smaller sites with navigation bars across the top.
The tier 2 pages link to the tier 3 pages, but not through the navigation bar. The tier 3 pages are your most specific pages. Continuing with the Yorkie example, the tier 3 pages might be something like "housebreaking Yorkies", "walking Yorkies," or "teaching Yorkies to do tricks." It's been shown to be best if your tier 3 pages are linked to through text links in a tier 2 page.
I've seen a lot of sites that have the navigation both along the side and across the top. Don't do that! It's nothing if not confusing!
If you're going to use a WordPress blog for your site, then the navigation is already taken care of. What I do is have really major categories on buttons across the top (normal blog format) and then use the "Categories" box for finer divisions, or use text links from the pages. I usually let the buttons across the top go to tier 2 pages and navigate out from there via text links. For housekeeping type pages like a site map or terms of service, I create a quick, text-based navigation bar in the footer.
You don't have to do things this way. These are just the best practices.
The issue here is making it easy for your visitors. When it's your site, it's sometimes hard to see what's confusing for people who are not as familiar with it as you are.
To learn more about how to promote your website, download my free ebook: Five Steps to Web Profits
Lee Cole is an successful internet marketer who can help you get your internet business up and running, and most importantly--profitable! To learn more, visit Lee's website
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