Internal Navigation vs Spamvigation

Wikipedia can cross link just about everything and look legitimate with it because they are nonprofit. Independent webmasters have to be more focused if they are trying to create profitable websites. Navigation can be nearly useless and spammy looking, or with a few minor tweaks it can look legitimate and well categorized. Compare the following two examples:

navigation 1
Seen On a Farm
cows
milk
pickup trucks
etc
etc
etc

vs

navigation 2
farm animals
cows
chickens
pigs
etc
dairy products
milk
cheese
yogurt
etc
farm equipment
tractors
pickup trucks
etc

The first navigational scheme is something you might see on the common AdSense website. Each page is not connected to any of the others by any trait other than carrying AdSense ads.

The second navigational structure looks less spammy and more useful. In addition to looking more credible and being easier to use, it also has headings focused on relevant keywords, which can link to related category pages. This allows the site to focus link weight on core topical phrases and pick up on mid-tier keywords not covered by a more haphazard navigational scheme that uses generic words unrelated to the way searchers search.

If you think ahead when planning out your navigation it also makes site expansion a breeze. For example, if you later add turkeys to the farm animals category it can be grouped with chicken under a poultry category.

Good internal navigation should be logical, easy to follow, and reflect your keyword theme.

Published: August 21, 2007 by [Aaron Wall](/content/user/aaron-wall "View user profile."/index.html) in seo tips