Improve SEO performance by facilitating the navigation of your website

Among the most important of Google criteria is the ease of navigation that your visitors experience when using your website. Although search results are managed at the page level, all of your content must be organized consistently, for both robots and users. In this article our SEO agency analyze the different practices to apply to get good SEO performance in terms of user navigation.

Analyze every aspect of your homepage

The homepage is the most frequently accessed page of a website as it is often the first line of communication between a company and its potential clients. When a user is "lost" or wants to read all the content you offer, their first reflex will often be to go back to the home page and then look at the categories placed in the various menus.

You therefore have to sort your content according to the topics you are talking about and let your visitors know exactly where to find the information they are looking for. The top menu remains the place to highlight your categories and subcategories:

Think about the depth you want to assign to each page, that is, the number of clicks needed to get from the home page to reach the desired content. Keep in mind that the deeper the page, the less visitors will see it. The depth of your pages must therefore correspond to the priority you give to each of them.

Improve the flexibility of your URLs

Not every Internet user has the same way of navigating a website. Indeed, while some will use categories that you have long optimized, others will just delete part of the URL in order to return to more general content:

In the example above, the visitor was on the "Australia-blog" part and now wishes to return to the list of countries without going through the top menu. If your URLs are not flexible, this may lead to users ending up end up on a 404 error page ("page not found").

 Create a Sitemap

A sitemap is a map of your website displayed on a dedicated page. Although it is created mostly for search engine robots, be aware that your visitors can also view it if they encounter difficulties in finding a particular page.

By creating a sitemap, you send an XML Sitemap file to the search engine robots to allow them to explore the different pages of your website. The sitemap will also allow robots to identify the URL version you want to define as the canonical version (ex: http://www.mylittlebigweb.com/ or http://milittlebigweb.com/). To create your XML Sitemap, you can use the free tools offered by Google such as the Google Search Console.

Optimize your website graphics

Here are the main things to consider when improving your SEO and/or the experience of your visitors:

● Use visuals related to your content. Visuals that are only used "make your site look pretty" can bring added value to your site from an aesthetic point of view but it is not certain that all your visitors will have the same taste as you.

● Adjust your images to lessen their size and weight. The more your page contains heavy files, such as images, the longer the loading time will be. Try to reduce their size by trimming them in order to keep only the essential without diminishing their quality.

● Avoid unnecessary animations. Animations are made to attract the attention of the reader and are often likened to advertising. It is therefore advisable to use them only if you want to focus on a specific content point.

● Limit writing fonts. Try to keep fonts homogeneous and easily readable by your visitors. From an aesthetic point of view, it is advisable not to use more than three different fonts so as not to disrupt the reading of your content. Keep in mind that special fonts may display differently depending on the browser you are using. Do a test by posting your site with the main browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari) to get an idea of the textual rendering.

● Use headings h1, h2, h3 to prioritize your ideas. Apart from the fact that you clarify the organization of your content for your readers, you also indicate to the search engines the importance of the topics tackled. Heading optimization is one of the most important components in SEO.

Do not hesitate to contact us at 514 572 7758 or via our contact form if you wish to speak with an advisor who will answer all your questions.

Eugénie Delhaye

Cofondatrice et Spécialiste Marketing Internet et Référencement Naturel (SEO) Ma maîtrise des techniques de référencement, combinée à une analyse minutieuse des tendances du marché, me permet de créer des stratégies SEO sur mesure, efficaces et durables.