When someone lands on your website, they should be able to find what they’re looking for quickly and easily. That’s where good website navigation comes in. It’s about helping visitors move around your site without getting lost or confused.
Whether you’re using a website builder or a custom design, planning your navigation well can make a huge difference to how your site feels and functions.
Your website could have the best content and the prettiest design in the world, but if people can’t find it, it won’t do you much good. Clear navigation:
Helps visitors find what they need
Keeps people on your site for longer
Supports search engine optimisation (SEO)
Makes your business look more organised and trustworthy
The Main Navigation Menu
This is usually found at the top of your website and appears on every page. It’s the main way people get around your site.
Here are some tips for making it work well:
1. Keep It Simple
Stick to 4 to 6 top-level items if you can. Too many options can be overwhelming, especially on mobile.
Some common ones include:
Home
About
Services or Products
Blog or Resources
Contact
If you wrote a content plan after reading Creating a Simple Content Plan, you’ll already have a good idea of which pages you need.
2. Use Clear Labels
Avoid clever or quirky names for your menu items. Use words people will recognise, like “Contact” instead of “Reach Out” or “Get in Touch With Us Today.”
If someone doesn’t understand what a menu item means, they probably won’t click it.
3. Be Consistent
The navigation menu should be the same on every page. This helps people learn how to move around your site without thinking about it.
4. Plan for Growth
Even if your site is small now, you might add more pages in future. Make sure your menu can grow with you. That might mean using drop down menus to group related pages.
For example, under “Services,” you could list:
Web Design
SEO Help
Branding
Just don’t go overboard, too many layers can make things messy.
Secondary Navigation
Not all links need to go in the main menu. Some can go in the footer or at the very top of your site (above the main menu).
This is where you can put things like:
Terms and Conditions
Privacy Policy
Login or Account Links
Social Media Icons
These links are important, but they’re not what most visitors are looking for right away.
Mobile Navigation
We touched on this in Designing for Mobile Devices, but it’s worth repeating. Mobile menus need to be:
Easy to open (usually with a three-line “hamburger” icon)
Touch-friendly
Short and to the point
Make sure the mobile version of your menu doesn’t hide important links or make people work too hard to find what they need.
Breadcrumbs and Internal Links
Depending on your site’s size, you might also want to use breadcrumbs, these are little links that show the path someone took to get to the page they’re on. For example:
Home > Blog > Website Tips > Navigation Basics
They’re especially useful for blogs and e-commerce sites.
Internal links (where you link from one page on your site to another) also help with navigation and SEO. For instance, we linked to previous posts like What Pages Do I Need on My Website? and How to Write for Your Website to guide readers through related topics.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Using too many menu items
Hiding important pages in dropdowns
Using vague labels
Making your navigation look different on each page
Forgetting to test on mobile
🧠 Final Thought
Great website navigation is about being clear, helpful, and easy to use. If visitors can’t find what they need in a few clicks, they’re likely to leave and look elsewhere.
Keep things simple, plan ahead, and always think about what makes life easier for your visitors. When your navigation makes sense, your whole website works better.
