What is Global Navigation? : Explaining Key Points for Creation
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Global navigation serves as a guide for users on a website, typically placed at prominent locations such as the top or sidebar of a page, to assist users in navigating through the site.
However, because it’s easily noticeable to users, the quality of global navigation significantly affects the effectiveness of a website. The purpose of installing global navigation is to lead users to the information they are seeking. If the global navigation fails to meet user needs, it can cause users to leave the web page.
For advanced SEO consultants, we’ll explain methods to make global navigation an excellent navigator and essential elements for creating highly usable global navigation.
Global navigation (also known as global nav or glo-nav) refers to menus installed on websites to help users navigate to their desired information without getting lost. While it’s known by various names such as:
-Header navigation
-Header menu
-Global menu
-Main menu
Its common role is to navigate users to information that fulfills their needs in the shortest distance possible.
Global navigation refers to the menu set up on a website to guide users directly to their desired information without getting lost. There are several other terms that signify global navigation.
Roles for users
Global navigation serves two main roles for users
- Directing users to the desired information in the shortest distance possible.
- Assisting users in understanding the overall layout of the website.
Properly designed global navigation, placed with appropriate pathways, can guide users to the information they seek regardless of which level of webpage they are on.
When users arrive at a webpage through a search engine, most of them land on pages other than the homepage. However, even among users who arrive at the same webpage, their needs may vary.
Therefore, global navigation supports users within the website, preventing them from getting lost or feeling overwhelmed. Designed to meet user needs, global navigation ensures that users can access the desired information regardless of which page they land on. Moreover, by guiding users to the information via the shortest route, it minimizes user stress.
One weakness of websites is their inability to provide individual support or follow-up to users. Global navigation addresses this weakness by serving as a permanent customer support feature embedded within the website, helping users navigate without getting lost.
When users can easily access the necessary information without stress, their satisfaction increases. Consequently, this can lead to higher conversion rates.
Global navigation, properly implemented to meet user needs, is crucial for organizing the vast amount of information within a website and making the site easily accessible to users.
The Role of Search Engines
Global navigation also plays a role in enhancing SEO performance.
By linking global navigation to every page of the website, it functions as a shortcut within the website. This makes it easier for search engines to recognize the main content of the website, ultimately contributing to improved SEO performance
Global navigation is typically placed as a menu at the top or sidebar of a webpage. It’s crucial that it appears in a prominent location that catches the user’s eye as soon as they land on the website.
Additionally, it’s possible to configure the global navigation to remain fixed on the screen even when scrolling through the page. This enhances usability as users can access the menu from any part of the webpage.
While there isn’t an absolute right or wrong place to position global navigation, it’s important to meet the following three criteria
- Easily visible to users
- Clearly identifiable as the website’s menu through design
- Consistently placed and designed across all pages
The primary mission of global navigation is to guide users without causing confusion. If the position or design of the global navigation varies from page to page, users will need to search for it each time they navigate, which diminishes usability.
To ensure ease of use from any page, it’s important to consistently place and design the global navigation in the same position across all webpages.
When designing and placing global navigation, the pathway is determined by reverse-engineering from the website’s goals and user needs. Here are seven points to consider
- Place it in a prominent position.
- Maintain consistent design across different pages.
- Use Japanese for labeling.
- Arrange menus in order of priority.
- Keep pathways as short as possible.
- Avoid overcrowding with too many items.
- Use text for labeling.
Place in a Visible Position
Global navigation is placed in the ‘first view’ of the webpage, meaning the position where it catches the user’s eye initially. For websites intended for desktop viewing, it’s common to place it in the header section or on the left or right sidebar of the page.
At this point, it’s crucial to position the global navigation where users can see it without needing to scroll the page. Enhancing user convenience can increase website engagement and reduce bounce rates.
For websites designed for viewing on smartphones or tablets, global navigation may also be placed at the top right or top left, or even at the bottom of the page. This is because it anticipates users operating smartphones or tablets with one hand.
Consistency in Design across All Pages
Global navigation should prioritize being user-friendly over design quality. Here are some guidelines
-Consistently place it in the same position on all pages
-Maintain the same design across all pages
-Arrange the menu according to the flow of the user’s gaze
-Ensure the design clearly indicates it’s global navigation
-Adjust text and design hierarchically
-Ensure clickable elements are easy to select
If the design varies between pages, it takes time for users to recognize it as a menu item. Also, if the position of global navigation differs between pages, users will need to search for it each time they navigate, which is not user-friendly.
It’s also important that users can recognize it as a menu at a glance. Design details should be crafted with user convenience in mind, ensuring that text and clickable areas are not too small.
Design for Mobile Sites
Since smartphones have narrower display screens compared to computers, there are cases where a menu icon called the hamburger menu is used. Typically, the menu is hidden, and users can reveal it by clicking on the hamburger menu icon.
The hamburger menu includes the following
-Dropdown menus, pull-down menus
-Drawer menus
-Header menus, footer menus
-Modal windows
-Springboards
Dropdown menus or pull-down menus in the hamburger menu, when clicked by the user, display the menu content as if it’s dropping down from the top of the screen. There are also drawer menus where the menu slides in from the side of the screen.
Since the menu is expanded by clicking on the menu icon, one advantage is that when the menu is not in use, the screen can be utilized to display content more extensively.
To make the most of the limited screen space on smartphones and tablets, high-demand menus are placed in the header or footer, while other menus are implemented in the hamburger menu. There are also header menus and footer menus.
Additionally, there are modal windows where the menu is displayed prominently across the entire screen when the hamburger menu icon is clicked, and springboards that skip the step of clicking on the hamburger menu, displaying the menu content prominently in the first view.
Since the display area is limited on mobile sites, the user’s eye movements and navigational patterns differ from those on desktop sites. It’s essential to select an appropriate global menu while verifying user navigational patterns and needs on mobile sites.
Write Clearly in Japanese
When creating global navigation, use Japanese keywords that are easy for everyone to understand.
For example, if you write ABOUT in English, it may not be clear what ABOUT is referring to. Users will be confused whether it’s about the company overview, site-related pages, or something else. Prioritizing usability over design aesthetics is crucial, so refrain from using English for the sake of design and focus on user-friendliness.
Furthermore, careful consideration is needed for the words used in global navigation. While site creators may understand the entire website, users visit the site without prior knowledge. Assuming that everyone will understand casually used words based on one’s own perspective is not always the case. It’s important to use words that everyone can understand, keeping in mind that users with various backgrounds and values visit the site.
Arrange from High Priority Menus
Global navigation selects and arranges menu items from high to low priority. The display area for global navigation is not infinite, and as information increases, visibility and convenience decrease.
Clarity is essential in global navigation. Prioritize and arrange information from high to low based on the degree of necessity for users visiting the site.
Install for the Shortest Path to Information
Global navigation should be based on a site structure designed to allow users to reach the necessary information via the shortest route possible. It’s crucial to create global navigation by reverse-engineering user needs and supporting users in reaching the desired information with minimal effort.
At this point, it’s recommended to place breadcrumb trails at the top of the main content. With breadcrumb trails, users can quickly see the pages they have navigated through to reach their current location.
Breadcrumb Trails Explained.
Breadcrumb trails are lists that make it easy to understand one’s current location within a website. As websites grow in size and content increases, the hierarchy becomes more complex. It’s not easy for users to grasp their position within a website.
Breadcrumb trails are typically placed at the top of the site where users can easily see them. By using breadcrumb trails, users can intuitively understand which level they are in. This increases user convenience and makes it easier for them to access the information they are looking for.
Create with Text
Global navigation menus should be created using text. When created with text, it becomes easier for search engines to understand. Google also recommends creating navigation with text.
Controlling most of the navigation between pages on a site with text links makes it easier for search engines to crawl and understand the site. When creating pages using JavaScript, use the ‘a’ element with the URL as the value for the href attribute. Instead of waiting for user interaction, ensure that all menu items are generated when the page loads.
Avoid the following.
Creating navigation primarily based on images or animations.
Source: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Starter Guide (Google Search Central)
When considering SEO evaluation, it’s advisable to avoid creating global navigation with images or animations that Google does not recommend.
The Appropriate Number of Menu Items?
Keep the number of items in global navigation to a minimum.
There are several answers to the question of how many items should be specific. It used to be said that 5 to 7 items were ideal, based on the research on human short-term memory by American psychologist George Miller, known as “Miller’s Law” (Reference: The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information).
However, recently, based on the “jam experiment” by Professor Sheena Iyengar of Columbia University, it is suggested that human short-term memory may be limited to about four items (Reference: Sheena Iyengar: How to Make Choosing Easier).
Therefore, the appropriate number of global navigation items should be set to avoid too many or too few items, depending on the nature of the site and user needs. If there are too many items in the global navigation menu, it may hinder users from finding information smoothly and may cause them to leave the web page. Also, if the number of global navigation items exceeds nine, there may be concerns about the text size becoming too small and difficult to read.
The appropriate number of global navigation items for your own site is also influenced by changes in user demographics and evolving user needs. It is important to continually refine and adjust while verifying the effectiveness of global navigation. Select a minimal number of global navigation items and adjust while verifying.
Summary
Global navigation is not only something that users will always see when visiting a website, but it also serves as a support role to help users find the information they need. However, finding the optimal solution for global navigation is not something that can be achieved overnight. This is because understanding the needs of users who cannot be met in person and providing information that anticipates and meets user needs is not easy. To properly guide users who visit the website and convert them, it is important to conduct testing and make adjustments.
Author Profile
A trilingual professional in English, Thai, and Japanese, she has numerous achievements in international SEO. She studied the latest IT technologies at Assumption International University, Thailand, and majored in International Business at the University of Greenwich, UK. Following her tenure at ExxonMobil’s Thai branch, she became a key member of Admano from its establishment.
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