Website Navigation Best Practices With Examples & Tips

When creating a new website (or refreshing an existing one), it’s important to design with your users’ needs as the top priority. What’s the secret? An easily discoverable, predictable, and consistent website navigation will make it so visitors can quickly find what they’re looking for without having to dig through multiple layers of pages or confusing menu options. The easier and faster users find what they need on your website, the more likely they are to stick around and take the desired actions you want them to take (e.g., make a purchase, fill out a form, place a phone call).

Before we can get into how to simplify your navigation, we need to understand what the different types of website navigation are, what the purpose of each one is, and what users expect to find there.

What are the Different Types of Website Navigation?

Website navigation comes in various forms, with each type serving a distinct purpose in helping users interact with and explore a website. Well-structured navigation not only improves usability but also impacts how search engines understand and index the site, making thoughtful navigation design an essential aspect of any website.

Main Navigation

The main navigation is the primary menu visitors interact with. It should be easy for users to self-select and pick a direction and then be guided to the desired section of the website. The main navigation is the first place users look to understand how the site is structured and to gather information about what the website is about. It should be concise and directly relevant to the site’s purpose.

Main Navigation Example

Using Nike’s website as an example, their main navigation has their top-level shop categories centered in the header area with enough spacing to separate them from common e-commerce activities like searching, managing wishlists, and viewing your cart.

Utility Navigation

The utility navigation provides secondary, but still essential, links that users might need but aren’t part of the core site journey. It may also include common utilities like user-related actions such as “Login/Sign up”, “Wishlist”, “Cart” or support options like “FAQs”, “Submit a Ticket”, or “Customer Service”. It’s also where we’d expect to find a language selector or currency options. We are trained to look in the upper right corner of a website for these types of utilities.

Utility Navigation Example

Nike’s utility navigation provides the user access to typical store actions like “log in”, “find a store” or “get help”. On the left, they include links to their other sub-brands like Jordan and Converse.

Footer Navigation

What we like to call the “panic room” of websites, the footer navigation is often used as a catch-all for information that doesn’t fit into the main or utility navigation but still needs to be easily discoverable. It can also serve as a way to create purposeful redundancy to the main navigation (i.e., repeating or echoing the main navigation and displaying the sub-pages for each section) or provide a way to elevate popular pages that aren’t suitable for the main navigation but are commonly searched for, like “Career Opportunities”.

The footer is especially helpful for users who have scrolled to the bottom of a page and may be looking where to go next or find company information like hours, address, or a careers link.

The very bottom of the footer should always contain your legal and policy links and personally, and is where our team also prefers links to social media sites to live. Placing those links in the main navigation distracts from users’ experience, and typically users don’t visit a company’s website to go to their social media. Again, we’re getting trained to find these social links in the footer, so let’s keep them there unless there is a strong, compelling reason based on your user data that they belong in the main or utility navigation.

Footer Navigation Example

Nike’s footer is what we like to consider a well-built footer. It includes purposeful redundancy to key actions like logging in as well as providing quick access to popular product categories. They then provide links to informational pages and customer service pages that would otherwise clutter up the main navigation. These days, we tend to expect to find company information and customer service links in the footer of e-commerce sites so this is a predictable placement for those links.

Rework Your Sitemap to Restructure Website Navigation

All three types of navigation—main, utility, and footer—are informed by a well-organized sitemap. Without a well-considered and structured sitemap, it will be immensely challenging to build out each of your navigation sections. A sitemap ensures that every important page has its place, that related content is grouped logically, and that users have a consistent experience navigating the site.

Identify User Groups

Your website should be designed to prioritize your users’ needs and actions. Knowing what your users need and want from your site will help you determine what types of pages you need to have, and what calls to action you should include. Once these two items have been established, you can move on to your sitemap.

Example of User Groups in Website Navigation

Continuing with Nike as an example, they organized their navigation by their user groups and then further broke out the navigation into product categories. The menu is simple and presented cleanly so it’s easy to scan. The left-hand side of the menu contains links to “new” and “limited” products—making those products easy to discover by the user.

Perform a Website Content Audit

Before we can begin simplifying our navigation, we need to have a well-organized sitemap. To have a well-organized sitemap, we need to know what we’re working with. A content audit helps you identify which pages are necessary and which may be redundant or outdated.

Use a tool like Screaming Frog or pull a sitemap using a plugin or tool from your CMS to list out every page on your website. Use a spreadsheet so you can organize and sort your pages. Are there a lot of orphan pages (pages that aren’t linked to or linking to other pages) or pages that appear dated or irrelevant, like a page discussing a promo you ran back in 2015? Mark those pages that are outdated for deletion. If an orphan page appears to be providing value to your users, flag it for consideration to be addressed in the next step.

It’s always good practice to use a tool like Google Analytics to check website traffic on any pages you mark for deletion or think might be getting lost in your sitemap. Google Analytics can tell you if you’re seeing visits to these pages, and depending on what you have enabled, it may also tell you what people are searching for on your website. If people are consistently searching for a term that is relevant to your business but aren’t finding what they are looking for, it’s probably a good idea to make a page for it.

Group Related Pages Together

Grouping similar content under one menu item reduces clutter, provides a discoverable and predictable navigation experience, and ultimately helps visitors find what they need faster.

Using the spreadsheet from the first step, categorize pages by topic (e.g., Company page, Service page, Product page, News page), create a predictable hierarchy for pages based on your categorization, assign relevance or importance of those pages to your users, and decide which locations make the most sense for those pages to reside. Through this process, you may identify additional pages that can be consolidated or removed.

Example of Grouping Related Pages

The Mayo Clinic does a good job grouping their pages based on their user groups and the actions those users may want to take on the website. They recognize they are catering to patients, prospective patients, medical professionals, donors, researchers, and the typical user who has an ailment and is looking to get some additional info and self-diagnose. They segmented their navigation based on those user groups and then organized by activity/action.

Considerations for Restructuring Website Navigation

Once you have a strong sitemap, you can apply the considerations below to ensure you’re keeping your navigation simple and clear.

Discoverability

Are critical pages easily discoverable by your user? A good way of checking this is to give yourself a goal that an ideal user may have. If you’re a roofing company, a user goal would be to “Get a quote for a new roof.” Can you easily discover how to locate information on available roofing services? From there, can users discover where to go to request a quote?

SEO Impact

When restructuring your website’s navigation, it’s essential to consider the SEO implications, as changes can significantly affect how search engines crawl and index your site. A well-organized navigation helps search engines understand the hierarchy and importance of different pages, which can improve rankings. However, altering your navigation without careful planning can lead to broken links, reduced page authority, and lower visibility in search results. Ensuring that important pages remain accessible and updating internal links accordingly will help maintain or even enhance your site’s SEO performance during the restructuring process.

Hierarchy & Predictability

Think about how users expect information to be organized and presented. Menu items should follow a logical hierarchy that leads users toward their goals without making them think too hard. Additionally, if a user clicks a link that says “Floral Design Services”, ensure that when they land on the page, they get immediate validation they landed in the right place because the page title reflects the main navigation link and the information on that page is relevant to the title.

Include Search Functionality

If your site has a lot of content, a search bar can save users a lot of time. Tracking what users are searching for can also provide valuable insights into how to elevate certain pages of your site or create new pages to promote a specific service or product.

Provide Multiple Paths to the Same Place

Everyone navigates a site differently and not everyone sees something the first time around. Use purposeful redundancy to remind a user why they have come to your site and what they should do next. This can be in the form of secondary navigation showing “Related Pages”, footer “Quick Links”, and/or repeating calls to action above the footer or in the main navigation. You may have the most streamlined, amazing site navigation but if you are only offering one path to a page, a user might miss it, get frustrated, and leave.

Website Navigation Design Best Practices

Once your sitemap is finalized, you can move on to building out your website menus and navigation. It’s important to consider both functionality and aesthetics when crafting your navigation, as clarity and visual appeal play a big role in how users perceive and interact with the site. Balancing simplicity with comprehensive access ensures that visitors can easily explore without feeling overwhelmed by too many options. To assist with this, we’ve outlined a few website navigation best practices below.

Limit Main Navigation Options

Too many options in a menu can overwhelm visitors. The main menu should focus on the most important pages that guide users to their goals (like “Shop”, “Services”, “About,” and “Contact”). Aim for five to six main menu items, and remove unnecessary or infrequently accessed pages from the main navigation and consider moving those to a footer or secondary navigation.

Example of a Streamlined Main Navigation

MailChimp has streamlined their navigation, featuring just four main navigation links. They also have the utility navigation located in the same bar but positioned off to the right. We love a navbar that includes the main navigation and utility navigation all in one line. If it can be done, it’s visually clean and allows for the addition of notification bars above the navbar without everything starting to look like stacked rows or neopolitan ice cream.

MailChimp also includes two pages to help a user decide whether or not to move forward with their services/products: “Pricing” and “Switch to MailChimp”. Knowing their users and what needs they have from their site, rather than nesting those pages in a menu, they elevated them to the top-level navigation so they are easy to find.

Prioritize the User Journey

Your navigation should reflect the flow of how users interact with your site, helping them achieve their goals quickly. To accomplish this, consider your audience’s needs. What are the primary actions they want to take when visiting your site? Align your navigation to those goals, such as getting more information, signing up for a service, or making a purchase. This may mean including a button in your main navigation to “Request a Quote” or “Order Now”. It may also determine what actions to place in a utility navigation.

Example of a Navigation That Prioritizes User Journey

Ford gives the user three options to explore – Vehicles, Shop, and Support & Service. The Vehicles menu option provides a much more exploratory and guided experience, letting users select a path based on vehicle type so they can learn more about what options are available. The Shop menu immediately brings users to options that are action-oriented, because it assumes they are closer to making a purchase. For Support & Service, it knows who is already a Ford vehicle owner, so the options are geared toward getting support, which is a much different journey than wanting to see what trip options are available on a new Ford Bronco.

Use Clear, Descriptive Labels

Ambiguous or creative labels can confuse users. The more direct and clear the label, the easier it is for visitors to find what they need. To do this, replace generic labels like “Products” with something more descriptive, like “Shop” or “Browse Products” or if you have space, call out product groupings “Men”, “Women”, “Kids”. Test your labels by asking someone unfamiliar with your business if they understand where each menu item leads.

Examples of Navigations With Clear, Descriptive Labels

Weber only sells grills and grill accessories. They have the ability to break out their main navigation based on grill type. They use clear, concise, descriptive labels for their top-level pages. They don’t need to repeat the word “Grill” after each because there are enough visual cues in the viewport area for users to know that Weber sells grills, including the fact that the logo graphic has a grill in it. It helps that Weber is a popular brand and most people are familiar with Weber’s product line.

For other brands where it may not be so clear (say you sell stove units and you’re a relatively new brand or you sell more than one type of product), you may want to consider adding the noun that the adjective is modifying (e.g., “Gas Stoves” vs. “Gas Grills”) or group your products differently (e.g., “Stoves” and “Grills” and include a sub-category in the dropdown menu for the type of Stove or Grill).

Samsung offers a broad line of electronics, including both consumer and business options. Even so, they are able to clearly label their navigation with descriptive terms that are concise and specific, using common terms their users are familiar with. Instead of grouping all their products under a generic label like “Shop”, they call out each of their main product lines in the navigation, helping users to quickly see the breadth of their offering. They then reserve the Shop menu item to be geared toward a more curated shopping experience (i.e., exploring new products and offers).

Use Consistent Language

Consistency across your site ensures that users know what to expect, improving their experience. Once you’ve created your sitemap, make sure your pages and any internal linking strategy mirror your new structure. For example, if you use the term “Courses” instead of “Classes” and your main navigation says “Courses”, make sure any calls to action say “Register for a Course” or “Course Registration” and/or are consistently worded with an action that implies the level of commitment (“Enroll” vs. “Register for a Class”). You may think people recognize those two are simply synonyms, but it’s better to be clear and consistent to ensure complete understandability.

Example of a Navigation Using Consistent Language

Harvard Business School uses consistent language and consistently worded calls to action to make it clear what activity a user is committing to. They say “Enroll Now” in three areas of the page and when describing the program, they consistently use the word “Course”.

Build Out Your Footer Navigation

While a streamlined main navigation helps reduce clutter and potential overwhelm, it’s okay to beef up your footer navigation to act as a directory of links and information because we expect the footer to do this. It’s also at the bottom of the page so it’s not distracting from the main content.

As long as you keep it well-organized and predictable with similar links residing under clearly labeled column headings, the footer is the perfect place to list pages, note your hours, post your contact information, and invite users to sign up for your newsletter or follow you on social media.

Example of a Well Structured Footer Navigation

The Universal Studios footer navigation echoes their main navigation and portions of their utility navigation, listing pages out in a directory-like format. They also include links to their apps (the footer is a common location for this as well). On mobile, the columns condense neatly into accordions to keep the footer from getting too long and making it easier to browse options without feeling overwhelmed.

Need Help With Improving Your Website Navigation?

Simplifying your website’s navigation is key to creating a smooth, predictable user experience—one that leaves your users delighted and willing to re-engage with your brand. Prioritizing simplicity, organizing your links thoughtfully, and including purposeful redundancy ensures users have an easily discoverable and consistent journey through your site, helping them achieve their goals without frustration.

Not sure where to start? Reach out to our team of website design experts for a free consultation today.