Weekly SEO news: 15 May 2018
Welcome to the latest issue of our newsletter!

Here are the latest website promotion and Internet marketing tips for you.

We hope that you enjoy this newsletter and that it helps you to get more out of your website. Please forward this newsletter to your friends.

Best regards,
Andre Voget, Johannes Selbach, Axandra CEO

1. How to design your website navigation for maximum results

Simple things can have a major influence on the conversion rate of your website. Even if your website has great content, website visitors won't find it if the navigation menu on your website is bad. The navigation of your website is equally important as the content of your web pages.

Website visitors are impatient. If they cannot find what they are looking for within seconds, they will go away. The following handy tips will help you to improve your website navigation.

how to design your website navigation

1. Keep it simple

The website navigation should be at the place where people expect it. The menu should be at the top of the page, or on the left side of your web page. Do not use fancy designs or unusual symbols. It must be easy to find and identify the website navigation on all pages of your website.

2. Use a clear structure

Cluttered and confusing menus will alienate your website visitors. Your website navigation should be clear and logical.

Most website visitors don't want to think. They want a quick solution, and they want it now. Make sure that the links to the most important pages of your website can be found easily. It's not necessary to link to every single page of your website in the website navigation menu.

If your website has categories and sub categories, it's usually enough to link to the categories in the menu. Then you can link to the sub category pages from the category pages.

3. Use descriptive menu item names

The easier your website navigation is to understand, the more people will use it. The link to your home page should be labeled 'Home'. The links to your category pages should use descriptive words that make clear what the categories and linked pages are about.

Do not use generic words in your menu. If the linked page is about brown shoes, the website navigation menu item should be labeled 'brown shoes'. Don't make your website visitors guess. If it makes sense, include the words for which you want to get high rankings in the menu items.

4. Don't use JavaScript

You can use JavaScript to enhance the look of your website navigation. However, the basic menu should work without JavaScript. Some people disable JavaScript for security or privacy reasons. These people won't be able to navigate on your website if your menu requires JavaScript. In addition, most search engines cannot fully parse JavaScript.

5. Make sure that your menu works on mobile devices

Today's Internet is mobile-first! It's essential that your website and your website menu works on mobile devices. There's no way around that.

Use the hamburger menu symbol to show your website menu on mobile phones. Users are used to that symbol and it makes it easier to find your website menu on smartphones: website hamburger menu

The font size should be easy to read on mobile phones. If your website has a search feature, it should be easy to reach on mobile phones.

Get more conversions and improve your website now

These simple things will help you to get more conversions. Keep your website navigation menu simple and don't make your website visitors think. If you also have a mobile-ready website, more people will buy on your website.

The tools in SEOprofiler help you to improve your web pages so that they get higher rankings, more visitors, and more conversions. You can create your free SEOprofiler account here:

Optimize your links

2. Internet marketing news of the week

John MuellerGoogle: we will not follow JavaScript links

"At Google’s I/O developer conference, Google’s John Mueller and Tom Greenway clarified that Googlebot won’t follow all links on a page. If your website uses JavaScript links, not all pages of your website might be indexed by Google. In general, your website should not rely on JavaScript."


As GDPR approaches, marketers are moving away from their reliance on third-party data

"Upcoming European data privacy rules restricting the use of cookies means that companies can no longer track prospective customers across the web. [...]

We can expect to see smaller ad-tech companies that depend on third-party data go out of business as they struggle to keep up with policy changes or be forced to make major changes to their core business model. The demise of these smaller companies and third-party ad networks will further elevate the Facebook/Google duopoly within the ad ecosystem."

StatisticsDigital ad spend reaches an all-time high

"Search revenues reached nearly $40.6 billion in 2017, up 18 percent from $34.6 billion in 2016 [...] Smartphones and tablets have become indispensable tools in the hands of consumers, from the moment they wake up to right before they go to sleep."

AMP announces dynamic geo-personalization

"[The new] amp-geo makes it easy to vary small sections of web content for users based on an approximation of the users’ country-level location, similar to the level of an ISO Country Code."

+++ SEARCH +++ ENGINE +++ NEWS +++ TICKER +++

  • Google: 100 things we announced at I/O ‘18.
  • How to keep Google from owning your online life.
  • New Google image publishing guidelines.
  • Add video to Google Posts.
  • Google AdWords new [beta] responsive search ads can show 3 headlines.
  • Google search direct questions answers.
  • Explore and eat your way around town with Google Maps.

3. Previous articles

Do you need better rankings for your website?

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