Skip to content
    Moz logo Menu open Menu close
    • Products
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Pro Home
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Home
      • STAT
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Home
      • Compare SEO Products
      • Moz Data
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis
      • Keyword Explorer
      • Link Explorer
      • Competitive Research
      • MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
      • SEO Learning Center
      • Moz Academy
      • MozCon
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • The Moz Story
      • New Releases
    • Log in
    • Log out
    • Products
      • Moz Pro

        Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

      • Moz Local

        Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

      • STAT

        SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

      • Moz API

        Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

      • Compare SEO Products

        See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

      • Moz Data

        Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

      Let your business shine with Listings AI
      Moz Local

      Let your business shine with Listings AI

      Learn more
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis

        Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

      • Keyword Explorer

        Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

      • Link Explorer

        Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

      • Competitive Research

        Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

      • MozBar

        See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

      • More Free SEO Tools

        Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO

        The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

      • SEO Learning Center

        Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

      • On-Demand Webinars

        Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

      • How-To Guides

        Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

      • Moz Academy

        Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

      • MozCon

        Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
      Moz API

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

      Find your plan
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers

        Simplify SEO tasks to save time and grow your traffic.

      • Small Business Solutions

        Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

      • Agency Solutions

        Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

      • Enterprise Solutions

        Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

      • The Moz Story

        Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

      • New Releases

        Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

      Surface actionable competitive intel
      New Feature

      Surface actionable competitive intel

      Learn More
    • Log in
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Dashboard
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Dashboard
      • Moz Academy
    • Avatar
      • Moz Home
      • Notifications
      • Account & Billing
      • Manage Users
      • Community Profile
      • My Q&A
      • My Videos
      • Log Out

    The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. Home
    2. Digital Marketing
    3. Web Design
    4. Html 5 main and secondary navigation for SEO best performances

    Moz Q&A is closed.

    After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

    Html 5 main and secondary navigation for SEO best performances

    Web Design
    3
    8
    3105
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
    • netbuilder
      netbuilder last edited by

      I am building a website which will have a main navigation related to the site and each link of the main navigation will have a secondary navigation. We do not want to use a megamenu style navigation. I will try to explain it with a example:

      Let's start with an example for a computer store "My PC Store", the Main Navigation would be:

      Desktop PC's Notebook & Tablets
      Multimedia

      When clicking on the "Notebook & Tablets" the user is directed to the page domain.com/notebook-tablet.html and on this page the secondary navigation appears: Laptop Netbook Tablets / iPad I am confused on how I should organize the semantic navigation for best SEO performances and I need advice / suggestions. I thought about 2 different ways to do it but which one is more appropriate in terms of SEO? PROPOSITION A Home Page:

      <header>

      My PC Store <nav>

      • Desktop PC's
      • Notebook & Tablets
      • Multimedia </nav> </header>

      Sub-Page (Notebook & Tablets):

      <nav>(or

      <aside>?)

      • Desktop PC's
      • Notebook & Tablets
      • Multimedia </aside>

      </nav>

      <header>

      Notebook & Tablets <nav>

      • Laptop
      • Netbook
      • Tablets / iPad </nav> </header>

      As you notice on the home page the Main Site Navigation is included in the

      <header>while it is not in the sub-pages.

      PROPOSITION B

      Home Page:

      <header>

      My PC Store

      <nav>

      • Desktop PC's

      • Notebook & Tablets

      • Multimedia

      </nav>

      </header>

      Sub-Page (Notebook & Tablets):

      <header>

      Notebook & Tablets <nav>

      • Desktop PC's
      • Notebook & Tablets
      • Multimedia </nav> # Notebook & Tablets * Laptop
      • Netbook
      • Tablets / iPad </header>

      The main navgation remains always in the

      <header>(home page / sub-pages) of all page.

      I need suggestions... How would you guys organize the nav ?

      </header>

      </header>

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • MatthewBarby
        MatthewBarby @netbuilder last edited by

        Apologies, typed that up wrong. Have updated above post.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • netbuilder
          netbuilder @netbuilder last edited by

          Why are you inserting

          outside

          <header>?</header>

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • MatthewBarby
            MatthewBarby @netbuilder last edited by

            My apologies. I would go with the following example in order to maintain a good SEO with your webpage headers and also a solid navigation:

            Home page:

            <header>

            My PC Store

            <nav>

            • Desktop PC's

            • Notebook & Tablets

            • Multimedia

            </nav>

            </header>

            Sub Page:

            <header>

            <nav>

            Notebook & Tablets

            *** Desktop PC's**

            • Notebook & Tablets
              *** Multimedia**

            </nav>

            </header>

            **<nav>

            • Laptop
            • Netbook
            • Tablets / iPad </nav>**

            Hope this helps.

            Matt.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • netbuilder
              netbuilder @netbuilder last edited by

              OK but you don't answer to my question since we do not want any mega menu or drop down menu.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • MatthewBarby
                MatthewBarby @netbuilder last edited by

                This is true if it is wrapped within JavaScript, so that the search engines cannot read it. However, if you use two separate navigation menus then you can negate this problem.

                Also, if you were to code up the 'mega menu' style navigation with CSS3 then you could also avoid these crawling problems and make the navigation much more search-engine friendly.

                In general, I try to avoid using sub-pages within site to extend navigation (unless it is completely different product areas or business verticals).

                Matt.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • netbuilder
                  netbuilder @MatthewBarby last edited by

                  Well there are in general SEO concerns in the use of navigation Mega Menu style and this is why we want to avoid it.

                  MatthewBarby netbuilder 5 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • MatthewBarby
                    MatthewBarby last edited by

                    Hi There,

                    I think I have got the jist of what you're trying to achieve.

                    What I would recommend is that you have links to Desktop PC's, Notebook & Tablets, Multimedia, Laptop, Netbook, Tablets / iPad directly from your homepage. The reason being that this will allow the search engines to crawl your webpages easier and the subcategory pages won't be so deep within the domain.

                    What I mean is that I would use either a drop down list, so that when the Notebook & Tablets is hovered over, the subcategories are then displayed below it. Alternatively, you could have a secondory naviagtion on the homepage, i.e. with an extensive drop-down list lower down or at the side of the webpage.

                    Great examples of this type of navigation can be found on: http://www.ebuyer.com or http://www.musicmatters.co.uk/shop.html (look at the secondary nav on the right for the Music Matters shop page.

                    I hope this helps.

                    Matt.

                    netbuilder 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • 1 / 1
                    • First post
                      Last post

                    Got a burning SEO question?

                    Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


                    Start my free trial


                    Browse Questions

                    Explore more categories

                    • Moz Tools

                      Chat with the community about the Moz tools.

                    • SEO Tactics

                      Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers

                    • Community

                      Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!

                    • Digital Marketing

                      Chat about tactics outside of SEO

                    • Research & Trends

                      Dive into research and trends in the search industry.

                    • Support

                      Connect on product support and feature requests.

                    • See all categories

                    Related Questions

                    • jcobo

                      Making html table as 'seofriendly' as possible

                      Hi, On my website I have a table with a list of products, on every row I have a different product and a different property on each column. The table is made with css so the html code is clean. The problem is (I guess) that google doesn't 'understand' what its inside on the table. So if I do a google search that page appears on the page 87, there is any way to improve my SEO without changing the table? Or to improve my SEO I must change the format of my content? In resume, I want to improve the SEO page of a page that contains information organized inside a table. I don't know if there is a specific answer to this question. Any help is welcome. Regards

                      Web Design | | jcobo
                      0
                    • QBSEO

                      What’s the best tool to visualize internal link structure and relationships between pages on a single site?

                      I‘d like to review the internal linking structure on my site. Is there a tool that can visualize the relationships between all of the pages within my site?

                      Web Design | | QBSEO
                      0
                    • LauraFalls

                      Have an eBook. What is best practice for SEO?

                      Hello We have a free eBook - its a great resource and great piece of content. It is available to download on our website here - http://re-timer.com/the-product/how-to-sleep-better/ The book is available as a whole or as individual chapters (i.e. http://re-timer.com/app/uploads/2015/07/Chapter8.pdf?b0df38). The PDF chapters appear to be doing well in Google search for certain keywords. I can't measure this in GA though. I would like the eBook to assist the SEO of my website overall. If I create a web page and 'embedded' the PDF into it will Google still crawl this page? At the moment we are also using this to collect email addresses, this is a nice to have and it is OK if people get the eBook without doing this (if they find a chapter in Google they currently don't have to enter their email address). I'm sure lots of people have eBooks now. What is best practice and the best way to use this as a tool to maximise SEO for the whole website (http://re-timer.com)? Thank you! Laura

                      Web Design | | LauraFalls
                      1
                    • JaanMSonberg

                      SEO strategy for UK / US websites

                      Hi, We currently have a UK-focused site on www.palmatin.com ; We're now targeting the North American market as well, but the contents of the site need to be different from UK. One option was to create another domain for the NA market but I assume it would be easier to rank with palmatin.com though. What would you suggest to do, if a company is targeting two different countries in the same language? thanks, jaan

                      Web Design | | JaanMSonberg
                      0
                    • DanielBernhardt

                      Will SASS ruin my SEO?

                      Hello, I am thinking about using SASS for my website, striping the current CSS style sheets and translating it all to SASS.. will this hurt my SEO?

                      Web Design | | DanielBernhardt
                      0
                    • HMK-NL

                      Best layout pages for SEO

                      Dear all, what would be the ideal layout of a webpage for SEO? How would a homepage and landingspage look like? Thanks in advance! Best regards, Ben

                      Web Design | | HMK-NL
                      0
                    • PerfectPitchConcepts

                      SEO downsides to minimalist (copy-light) homepage?

                      Curious for your thoughts on this - are there any SEO downsides to not having any substantive content on the home page (big background design)? We would obviously have appropriate page titles and link structure, etc. Our guess is that if the home page doesn't have much copy, that odds are that other specific pages will tend to perform better for non-brand search terms, which seems OK.  If people DO find the homepage, it would likely be a brand search or an ad referral, in which case the minimalist, non-copy design would be conversion-friendly. Does that theory hold any water? I suppose a middle ground might be a single H1 line unobtrusively on the page. Thanks in advance for any insight, guys! Sincerely, Stephen

                      Web Design | | PerfectPitchConcepts
                      0
                    • superTallDan

                      Duplicate Content for index.html

                      In the Crawl Diagnostics Summary, it says that I have two pages with duplicate content which are: www.mywebsite.com/ www.mywebsite.com/index.html I read in a Dream Weaver tutorial that you should name your home page "index.html" and then you can let www.mywebsite.com automatically direct the user to index.html.  Is this a bug in SEOMoz's crawler or is it a real problem with my site? Thank you, Dan

                      Web Design | | superTallDan
                      0

                    Get started with Moz Pro!

                    Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                    Start my free trial
                    Products
                    • Moz Pro
                    • Moz Local
                    • Moz API
                    • Moz Data
                    • STAT
                    • Product Updates
                    Moz Solutions
                    • SMB Solutions
                    • Agency Solutions
                    • Enterprise Solutions
                    Free SEO Tools
                    • Domain Authority Checker
                    • Link Explorer
                    • Keyword Explorer
                    • Competitive Research
                    • Brand Authority Checker
                    • Local Citation Checker
                    • MozBar Extension
                    • MozCast
                    Resources
                    • Blog
                    • SEO Learning Center
                    • Help Hub
                    • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                    • How-to Guides
                    • Moz Academy
                    • API Docs
                    About Moz
                    • About
                    • Team
                    • Careers
                    • Contact
                    Why Moz
                    • Case Studies
                    • Testimonials
                    Get Involved
                    • Become an Affiliate
                    • MozCon
                    • Webinars
                    • Practical Marketer Series
                    • MozPod
                    Connect with us

                    Contact the Help team

                    Join our newsletter
                    Moz logo
                    © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                    • Accessibility
                    • Terms of Use
                    • Privacy

                    Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.