Navigation & SEO

[NicoleWilliams]

Hi everyone! I'm curious, does the structure of a website navigation and it's menu with in have an impact on SEO ranking? A previous consultant set ours up so keywords were what determined our menu structure but it looks messy and not easy for website visitors to use. Our website is www.createestate.com.au. Thanks! Nic

[alyssamwilie · Accepted solution]

@NicoleWilliams When it comes to SEO user experience should always be top priority. If you're users aren't able to navigate your site well then search engines aren't going to be able to properly crawl and categorize your site.

From a look through the site some things that come to mind:

1. The simpler breadcrumbs and URL structure feels disjointed from the complex navigation and having this multilayered nav makes it take longer for users to get to where they want to go. (The breadcrumbs definitely need to include a link back to the top level category ex: Home > Bed Heads > Boy's Bed Heads)
2. I don't think it really makes sense to have Size as a category since most, if not all, of these bed heads and frames have multiple size options. Would be better for that to be a filter on the listing pages rather than have their own category pages. That is unless you spruce up the size pages to be more informative in nature like Purple does (but even they don't put these pages in their main nav).
3. Ensemble Bed and Trundle Bed seem out of place and confusing being added to both bed frames and mattresses. They'd likely do better as their own thing.
4. The collections part of the URL I think is uncessary and the page for it is honestly really confusing to look at. https://www.createestate.com.au/boys-bed-heads would do just fine. Not to mention it doesn't look like you link to https://www.createestate.com.au/collections/ anywhere on the site so it must not be important to have.
5. I'm not entirely sure what the Fabric Samples are for, none of the text seems to specifty that. If it's samples for Bed Head fabrics I'd put that link under Bed Heads. If they pertain to multiple diffrent products I'd make it it's own link.
6. If possible I'd move the About and Contact into the eyebrow, next to the Cart icon, to make more space for and put more focus on your product links.

My recommendation for site navigation:

Eyebrow Navigation

About

Contact

Cart

Main Navigation

Beds

- Ensemble Bed

- Trundle Bed

Bed Heads
- Boy's Bed Heds

- Girl's Bed Heads

- Kid's Bed Heads

- Linen Bed Heads

- Velvet Bed Heads

- Slipcover Bed Heads

- Upholstered Bed Heads

- Kimmy Hogan Bed Heads

- Custom Bed Heads

- Fabric Samples

- Shop Bed Heads

Bed Frames

- Floating Bed Frames

- Upholstered Bed Frames

- Timber Bed Frames

- Kid's Bed Frames

- Shop Bed Frames

Mattress

Slipcovers

- Velvet Slipcovers

- Custom Slipcovers

In Stock

Footer Navigation

Products

- Beds

- Bed Heads

- Bed Frames

- Matress

- Slipcovers

- Fabric Samples

- In Stock

Support

- About

- Contact Us

- FAQ

- Articles

- Trade Access

- Delivery  + Returns

(Put the Privacy Policy link next to your copyright)

Casper and Purple bedding companies' websites are a good example of how to set up navigation/heirarchy for a site like this.

Hope this helps!

[kmcready · Accepted solution]

Hey @NicoleWilliams simply put, website navigation is very important for SEO AND users alike. It helps crawlbots (like Google) crawl and index your website properly by going through each internal link and how they connect to each other.

The navigation helps pass "link juice" properly to second and third-level pages and organizes your content into silos that cover topical authority for each category of bed frames.

So, in terms of your website and eCommerce SEO, you'll get the best results by creating category pages which are your main navigation menu items. Also, the multiple dropdowns are a thing of the past.

Take Nike's website for example, they have mega menus with all the subcategories within each dropdown. They avoid doing Mens > Mens Shoes > Mens Shoes Sizes...Instead they wrap all their related topics into a big menu with only a single dropdown. This makes it easier for webcrawlers and users to navigate through their website and index all their products correctly.

One last thing, the closer a page is to the home page, the more "power" the page has. I noticed your URL structure is pretty deep: https://www.createestate.com.au/collections/king-size-bed-frames/products/floating-bed-frame-timber-... being a 4th click (or more) away from your home page.

To fix that you can remove the /collections/[bed frame size]/products/[actual product] and make that /[bed frame size]/[product] and remove those extra subfolders. Especially since the /collections page isn't tied to a specific keyword that can help, but /king-size-bed-frames/timber-oak-frame both rank for keywords like "King Size Bed Frames Collections" to kill two birds with one stone.

Hope that helps, let me know if you have any questions!

[alyssamwilie · Accepted solution]

@NicoleWilliams When it comes to SEO user experience should always be top priority. If you're users aren't able to navigate your site well then search engines aren't going to be able to properly crawl and categorize your site.

From a look through the site some things that come to mind:

1. The simpler breadcrumbs and URL structure feels disjointed from the complex navigation and having this multilayered nav makes it take longer for users to get to where they want to go. (The breadcrumbs definitely need to include a link back to the top level category ex: Home > Bed Heads > Boy's Bed Heads)
2. I don't think it really makes sense to have Size as a category since most, if not all, of these bed heads and frames have multiple size options. Would be better for that to be a filter on the listing pages rather than have their own category pages. That is unless you spruce up the size pages to be more informative in nature like Purple does (but even they don't put these pages in their main nav).
3. Ensemble Bed and Trundle Bed seem out of place and confusing being added to both bed frames and mattresses. They'd likely do better as their own thing.
4. The collections part of the URL I think is uncessary and the page for it is honestly really confusing to look at. https://www.createestate.com.au/boys-bed-heads would do just fine. Not to mention it doesn't look like you link to https://www.createestate.com.au/collections/ anywhere on the site so it must not be important to have.
5. I'm not entirely sure what the Fabric Samples are for, none of the text seems to specifty that. If it's samples for Bed Head fabrics I'd put that link under Bed Heads. If they pertain to multiple diffrent products I'd make it it's own link.
6. If possible I'd move the About and Contact into the eyebrow, next to the Cart icon, to make more space for and put more focus on your product links.

My recommendation for site navigation:

Eyebrow Navigation

About

Contact

Cart

Main Navigation

Beds

- Ensemble Bed

- Trundle Bed

Bed Heads
- Boy's Bed Heds

- Girl's Bed Heads

- Kid's Bed Heads

- Linen Bed Heads

- Velvet Bed Heads

- Slipcover Bed Heads

- Upholstered Bed Heads

- Kimmy Hogan Bed Heads

- Custom Bed Heads

- Fabric Samples

- Shop Bed Heads

Bed Frames

- Floating Bed Frames

- Upholstered Bed Frames

- Timber Bed Frames

- Kid's Bed Frames

- Shop Bed Frames

Mattress

Slipcovers

- Velvet Slipcovers

- Custom Slipcovers

In Stock

Footer Navigation

Products

- Beds

- Bed Heads

- Bed Frames

- Matress

- Slipcovers

- Fabric Samples

- In Stock

Support

- About

- Contact Us

- FAQ

- Articles

- Trade Access

- Delivery  + Returns

(Put the Privacy Policy link next to your copyright)

Casper and Purple bedding companies' websites are a good example of how to set up navigation/heirarchy for a site like this.

Hope this helps!

[NicoleWilliams]

Hi Alyssa,

Thank you SO much for the detailed feedback it's really appreciated and very helpful. I 100% agree with the break down in bed sizes and something I've never liked. But it was implemented by our old SEO consultant so glad to know I can remove it.

The 'collections' part of our url is a shopify default so not sure it can be removed. 

Thanks again,

Nic