A quality navigation layout starts with organizing your top-level categories. However, these categories are merely the doorways to much deeper, more valuable content.
If your company sells footwear, it makes sense to have various navigation categories such as shoes, boots, sandals, etc. However, if you’ve done your keyword research, you will likely have discovered that those are also highly competitive terms to rank for. You need those pages, and you should optimize them as well, but it’s going to be tough to outperform the big powerhouses that own those top spots.
But keyword research will also give you a number of refinement options that make for great navigation sub-categories that make even better landing pages. What kind of shoes do you offer? Dress shoes, running shoes, casual shoes, lightweight shoes, women’s shoes, kids shoes, cheap shoes, bedazzled shoes, brand name shoes, etc., etc., etc.
No Limit
Each of these presents ideas for navigation options and corrresponding landing pages that can bring traffic directly to the page that best represents the searcher’s interest. The more you invest in keyword research, the more options you’ll find for creating pages for your navigation.
Of course, you only want to create pages for search phases that fit what you offer, but there really is no limit to the number of navigational options you can provide so long as you’re not duplicating content.
A good example of such duplication would be if your keyword research uncovered the phrases womens shoes and ladies shoes. It wouldn’t make much sense to have a separate pages for these keywords since the searchers using them are likely looking for the same thing. One navigational page will suffice, but if you want to optimize the pages separately, choose one for the site content and optimize another on your blog.
The deeper you go with your navigation, the more unique landing pages you’ll be able to create. Don’t be afraid of too much content. Just make sure every page provides valuable and unique content and helps visitors find what they want more quickly.
Navigation / Landing Page Creation Checklists
- Review all your keyword topics for relevant and unique terminology.
- Organize these keywords into groups based on your primary navigational headings.
- Create unique content so each page adds value to the site.