What are the best titles to use for website navigation?
Is there something better than the standard "about us", "services", "resources", etc? If you try to be more creative does that just confuse people?
Answers (14)
Jim O
Sr User Interface/Interaction Designer
Best Answers in: Interface Design (2), Project Management (1)
Creativity in this particular case is unwarranted and can cause confusion. There is no sense in re-inventing the wheel. Cutesy and creative will not fare well if people cannot get to your information.
Steve J
President, websignia.net
Best Answers in: Compensation and Benefits (1), Advertising (1), E-Commerce (1), Web Development (1)
Yes, there are many creative alternatives to the standard navigation menu titles, but will your users quickly understand them?
I think you can safely use the following alternatives:
About Us or Company or Who We Are
Services or What We Do
Portfolio or Work
Contact Us or Get In Touch
Links or Resources
Support or Help
Steve,
I agree with Jim that that wheel does not need to be reinvented. As for your main navigation I think you should stick with the plain terms as you described in your question.
However, within your content if you need to link or refer to one of those pages you can include a keyword or two. Arguably, this can also cause confusion for the user making them think there is more pages that what is really there.
You can also include keywords in your file naming scheme such as, www.mydomain.com/keyword1-keyword2-services.html. This is obviously a quick example but this could potentially assist with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques.
Again, its completely your choice, I don't believe there is a right way or wrong way per se, what matters most is that your clients/customers/users can find what they are looking for and they are satisfied with your web site hopefully generating revenue.
Clear, Concise and Intuitive. It's important to speak to the audience the site is designed for. Creativity is more than confusing, it can be frustrating when someone is looking to contact resources from your website and you've used jargon to label the "Contact Us" area "SMS" or used something less familiar like "Jabber" to open a real time communication application.
Stick with the standards for user recognition.
For indexing in search the best text for these are words that describe what the client does. If FooCo is a developer of Widget Software then you want 'Widget Services', or 'About Widget Software'.
These tend to be too wordy for navigation bars and as long as the pages have specific terms that are relevant to the client then the abbreviated ones that visitor recognize is the safe bet.
One problem you can run into when you get too creative with those terms is when it comes to localization. Something that might make sense in the US might not translate well at all. Of course if you aren't concerned with localization then it's not a problem.
David T
Leaving Catalyst Direct, going to Deerfield Academy
Best Answers in: E-Commerce (3), Internet Marketing (2), Viral Marketing (1), Supply Chain Management (1), Market Research and Definition (1), Using LinkedIn (1)
I agree that user conventions should be leveraged, but ultimately if these are the primary navigational choices on your site, then your site it not doing much for your business.
You sell bikes? How about "Road Bikes" "Mountain Bikes" and "Accessories" as your top level links.
You do consulting work? How about "MnA Consulting" "HR Consulting" and "Brand Consulting" as your nav choices.
Trust me: anyone who is looking for your "about us" or "contact us" content will find it -- even it it's in tiny type in the header or footer. What they WON'T find easily is the message/differentiation of your company, and placing those ideas into the navigational/information structure of your site is the first and most critical step to designing a site that benefits your business.
So yes, stick with the standard options for these "maintenance" links, but invest serious time and energy into communicating your business model or meeting primary user goals directly in the navigation.
I hope that helps!
--David Thiel
etailology.com
I would recommend keeping titles for navigation as simple and clear cut as possible. The KISS principle always seems to prevail.
Also, something to always keep in mind is the search engines will continue to get smarter and smarter. This being said, one part of a website that search engines will consider is usability and functionality for the user. There is always a fine line between over optimizing and creating a great user experience.
From an SEO perspective, you should incorporate your targeted keywords into your file naming convention. Brian Johnston is on point with his answer provided above.
One word of caution is to not go overboard with the number of keywords in the name of the file. Using too many hyphens in any naming convention could trigger a red plag for keyword spamming/stuffing.
I have included two links to SEOmoz that could be helpful.
I hope this helps.
Ryan Todd Rose
Links:
The best titles are the most simplistic and easily understood. Being creative with navigation forces your users to 'learn' how to use your site and does confuse them.
Two important tips to note:
1. do not use any type of acronym on your navigation thinking that, of course, your visitors will know what it means in relation to your site.
Years back we did some user research on our own customers and found that with acronym's like, CRM, they had no idea what it meant or what it stood. So even the most obvious acronym's might not be so obvious to the web visitor.
2. Make sure your titles are indicative of outside-in thinking and not inside-out. Many companies make the mistake of organizing their navigation structure based on their business model - this is considered inside-out thinking. Make it based on the web visitor by identifying the 3 main tasks that they would do on your site - both customer and prospect.
I recommend avoiding creative naming conventions when standard naming conventions are available. Standard naming conventions lend a sense of familiarity and set clear expectations for the overall information architecture thereby improving overall website navigation. Using more creative naming conventions will likely cause both frustration and confusion for the users.
If creative naming conventions are used because standard naming conventions are not available, I recommend task-oriented usability testing to ensure that your users are able to successfully utilize this creative navigation structure.
A common practice we use it to identify what questions bring/brought visitors to the site. It falls along the same line of thinking as the "Mountin Bikes" and Consulting example. We try to think in terms of what will mean something significant to the visitor. Or course I have had clients refuse my suggestions so i guess bottom line, whatever the client wants first and then use obvious ones next.
Jack P
Account Manager, Internet Strategy & Planning at BlueCross of Northeastern Pennsylvania
Best Answers in: Web Development (1)
Steve,
It seems the general consensus is to keep your labels clear and to the point. I couldn't agree more. Using what is commonly practiced on the web will allow ease of navigation and will help when customers (new and existing) visit your site.
I have previous experiences with clients that wanted to be 'creative' with their naming conventions (specifically their global navigation). This lead to a great deal of confusion due to the fact that it landed itself to interpretation. Obviously the exact opposite that you hope to accomplish with regards to communicating the navigation of your site.Creativity is best used for the design of the site, not the organization of your content so stick to the basics.
On a side note, if you are able to generate reports from your site and gather analytical data, you will definitely see the key words that users are typing in to search for your site or product. This would be the best method to labeling your site. Let the user help you refine your naming conventions.
Hope this helps
Jack
I would suggest that you use the standard titles for most of the standard pages. Then, use the differentiation from the standard only for those things that you want to draw a lot of attention to. However, most of that should really be on the first / home page. There are various strategies for drawing attention to a specific link from the home page, this would be one of them. It would not draw as much attention as a 'new feature' type of box in the page contents though. The menu is not the first place that people look when they look at the page.
Gary B
Freelance UX Designer, Information Architect
Best Answers in: Web Development (3), Business Insurance (1), Small Business (1)
The labels that should be used used on navigation should be reflective in the taxonomy of the users (audience). Its just no good having labels that the site's audience can't relate to. They need to understand them and making them relearn what you are trying to convey will just cause frustration and confusion.
It's all about what people viewing the site are going to expect behind that label. What information they have already predetermined that they are going to see before they even get to the relevant page. This expectation is based on a number of factors from their previous experience on the web to the cultural, educational or region influences.
Granted terms such as home, contact, about, services, products are generic, but it is the other labels that need to be closely examined.
The labels (as others have pointed out) should be short and no more that three words (at most). They need to be scanned by a user within seconds and know what they expect to find. So short terms are better.
Now what maybe consider by one audience may not work for another. Take the term "resources". May mean a lot to one group. But to say a government focused audience it may mean very little. In this case the term "publications" maybe a better fit. Granted it may not cover all the expectations, but it will give the general theme of the information contained in that section.
The secret is don't step outside what the site's audience expects or understands.
