Nullify Navigational Nightmares
for Visitors and Search Engines

Volume II, Issue 8
ISSN: 1547-7754
January 2005
printable version

Chris King, Editor
By subscription only, this monthly e-newsletter is loaded with short, "down and dirty" tips to help you with solving the everchanging and growing puzzle of the Internet. This e-zine serves as a place to ask your questions and find the answers. So, send me your burning questions.

The two top reasons given for a visitor to leave a website in haste are long download time and confusing navigation. The top reason a search engine stops spidering a website (this is the way they index them) is confusing navigation without usable links.

Therefore, in this issue of the Internet Tips E-zine I am going to delve into some of the website design and development tools that will make your website easily navigable and usable for visitors and search engines alike.

TOOL #1. Make sure that all links appear somewhere on the site as words (text). I love buttons and rollovers but these are graphics and search engines don’t read graphics. Alternatives include:

• Bottom of the page links - you can still have your buttons, or even a small clever graphic doubling as a button, but always include the actual words as links somewhere on the page. The bottom makes sense for those scrolling down the page.
• Descriptive words that are also links - these serve several purposes. Besides helping with the navigation, these words help with the direction in which you want your visitors to go. For example, “Read our Master Plan,” where “Master Plan” serves as a link to the Master Plan page.
• Create a site map using words (text) and short descriptions - at one time, I erroneously thought that a site map should be a well-drawn graphic with hotspots to the various pages. After studying search engine optimization (SEO), however, I realize that using the words for the links is more workable and straight forward for all. I now use a site map for all of the larger websites I design - especially if they consist of several layers of complexity.

TOOL #2. Make liberal use of the ALT tag, which is the textual name for a graphic. Use them for:

• Buttons and rollovers - even when your buttons sport names that you feel are obvious, the search engines and those who are blind and using a special Internet reading program won’t recognize them without the ALT tags.
• Graphic hotspots that link to special pages or page anchors (invisible bookmarks) - I maintain a website I designed with a map and stars on the map that take you to a page dedicated to the star’s location. I use ALT tags to name and describe the locations, so all the visitor needs to do is roll over the stars and click on the one that names the location they are looking for.

TOOL #3. Use anchors or bookmarks for speedy travel. These are the invisible, but highly effective “markers” that can be placed anywhere on a website and linked to from that same page or from another page.

• “Back to Top” - is the link to the anchor “top” placed at the top of the page, so if the page is lengthy, a visitor can get back to the top immediately without having to scroll.
• Use anchors in an index - if a page has many headings for a particular topic, I like to place the headings in an index at the beginning of the page, making each a link to that heading (the anchor or bookmark is placed at the heading).
• Use anchors for special information - for example, you might place an anchor at a definition on a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page and then link to it for those who want more information. I have also used anchors for products referred to in another context on a different page.

TOOL #4. In most cases, use underlining for links and don’t use underlining for emphasis (non-links). Yes, there are surfers who hate underlining, but an underline is usually the clue that you have encountered a link.

TOOL #5. There is a lot of latitude in picking colors for links and visited links. At least, all links are no longer that jarring bright blue of the past, but the newer colors for links may still confuse some users.

I guess my final suggestion is, “Know your target audience and do everything you can to make their navigation of your website a dream rather than a nightmare.”

Attention! New Offer from Chris King. After visiting many websites, and talking with website owners, I realize that many have sites that are in need of a refurbishing, but the original designer(s) is no longer available. If this applies to you, I am now willing to help you update and freshen your website. Give me a call at (216) 991-8428 or e-mail me at chris@creativekeys.biz.