undefined
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
    • SEO Q&A
    • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
  • Blog
  • Why Moz
    • Agency Solutions
    • Enterprise Solutions
    • Small Business Solutions
    • Case Studies
    • 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.

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
    Moz Pro

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

    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
    • 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.

    • Case Studies

      Explore how Moz drives ROI with a proven track record of success.

    • 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. Left or right hand navigation

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.

Left or right hand navigation

Web Design
6
6
4.4k
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.
  • Jon-C
    Jon-C last edited by Jan 29, 2013, 11:19 AM

    Really stupid question (I think) but does Left or right hand navigation help or hinder SEO and/or user experience?

    Re-doing our site at the moment and I quite like right hand navigation as it seems to highlight our content better but not sure if it would hinder anything SEO wise - site is based on a responsive theme and side navigation is only called after content anyway so don't think it would make a difference SEO wise

    Noticing more and more sites moving towards right hand nav and I quite like it, would also differentiate us in our niche as everyone else uses left hand nav

    As I say probably a stupid question but thought I would ask! 🙂

    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
    • Esaky
      Esaky last edited by Jan 29, 2013, 4:03 PM Jan 29, 2013, 4:03 PM

      If it's a Portfolio of your Works - use the Left hand Navigation Menu ! Very Attractive.
      The Clients will be amazed by the work you did there and published !

      If you have a blog or magazine webdesign go with the right hand side ! - as Takeshi said

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote -1
      • TakeshiYoung
        TakeshiYoung last edited by Jan 29, 2013, 2:39 PM Jan 29, 2013, 2:39 PM

        From a web design & usability, a lot of people use right side navigation because it is close to the scroll bar on most browsers/computers.  So people can easily access the scroll bar and use the navigation without having to drag their cursor all the way across the screen.

        As far as SEO, Google will generally filter out boilerplate content like navigation, but if you have a lot of dynamic content in there, it can impact SEO as far as where you have the navigation in the code (above the content or below the content).  However, regardless of where you place the sidebar in your code, you can have it appear wherever you want using CSS.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • sebastiankoch
          sebastiankoch last edited by Jan 29, 2013, 1:53 PM Jan 29, 2013, 1:53 PM

          Hi,
          It is true,right or left the only impact in your SEO could be if it gives a bad user experience and increases the bounce rate. Maybe choose wisely the links in the nav bar so they are not to many and they actually point to webpages you want to get link juice to.

          In theory when someone looks at a website tends to check more the left side, specially top left. check for website heat map on google.

          What needs to be more visible, the navigation bar or the content? ... depends.

          I don´t think that the great majority of customers will even realize that other pages in the niche have the sidebar on the other side. That is just because you are highly involved with your website and the niche and therefore even realize that.

          In other words just a mater of design.

          My personal opinion, I like right side navigation, looks more modern.

          Sebastian

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • TomRayner
            TomRayner last edited by Jan 29, 2013, 11:58 AM Jan 29, 2013, 11:58 AM

            There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers.

            Certainly don't see either having any negative SEO correlation (unless one looked particularly ugly and increased bounce/exit rates substantially).

            I'm with Istvan in thinking it should be a user experience consideration.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • Keszi
              Keszi last edited by Jan 29, 2013, 11:28 AM Jan 29, 2013, 11:28 AM

              Hi Teddi,

              I personally like the idea of having the navigation on the right side, but we usually test it for each client. Questioning your visitors with a feedback will even give you a better overview of how they like it.

              That would be my personal approach for it, but I hope it helps.

              Istvan

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • 1 / 1
              1 out of 6
              • First post
                1/6
                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

              • vtmoz

                WordPress redirects are taking too long to navigate: Anyone ever faced this?

                Hi community, We are using wordpress website. We have redirected hundreds of URLs from wordpress redirect manager for last 10 years around. Suddenly from last one week, the redirects are taking too long to navigate to the pages; like around 1 minute. Could you anybody face the same issue? Please help me on this. Thanks

                Web Design | Jul 24, 2018, 2:29 PM | vtmoz
                0
              • LuaMarketing2

                Are pages not included in navigation given less "weight"

                Hi, we recently updated our website and our main navigation was dramatically slimmed down to just three pages and no drop down under those. Yet we have many more important pages, which are linked to once on one of those main three pages. However, will this hurt those other pages because they are not included in navigation (some of which were starting to get good traction in rankings)?
                Thanks!

                Web Design | Sep 19, 2015, 8:26 AM | LuaMarketing2
                0
              • RPD

                Does having a Blog link in the top level navigation provide any better SEO value, or would having it in a footer or top navigation work just as good?

                Trying to decide on whether placing a link to the blog in our top level navigation would have a better SEO value than just placing it in top or footer navigation. I have an ecommerce site.

                Web Design | Jun 10, 2013, 3:23 PM | RPD
                0
              • 1SMG

                3 Brands, 3 Services, 3 Different Websites Right?

                My client was told that having 1 website for 3 different brands/services is better than having 3 websites. I need your help to prove my value to a new client.  This client has worked with Reach Local on PPC for some time and when they first got started the Reach Local Markering Consultant told this cleint that they needed to have one site for better SEO purposes. The client was told that Google ranks websites higher if they have more paid traffic going to them.  I've been doing this for long enough to realize this does not help ranking, at least not enough to make a difference. Keep in mind this is for 3 different companies.  One company does plumbing, another electrical and the last one does air conditioning.  They also have  4 locations but only two locations have mutliple services opperating out of them.  I understand these 2 location will not have there own Google+ Local / Places listing.  Using the same address for 2 different business and expecting a first page ranking is just not possible. Right now when you visit the clients website you see a logo that rotates with a banner section that follows the logo rotation.  First you see the AC Company and then the Plumbing etc.  I see this as confusing to the end user and it is more work to get it ranked for SEO.  I recommended that we build 3 speerate websites for each service and just list out all the addresses that the company services on the contact page.  I would also design inside the footer links to the other services for branding purposes. Please share your thoughts on how you would handle this if you were doing the SEO for your own 3 different business services. I really appreicate any input/insight to this.  Thank you so much in advance!!!!

                Web Design | Feb 20, 2013, 7:53 AM | 1SMG
                0
              • bronxpad

                CSS vs Javascript vs JQuery drop down navigation

                For a user / seo perspective, what is the best way to code a drop down menu nav bar? Is it best to use css, javascript or a scripting library like jquery? I am thinking about overall best practice that will not have a negative impact on serps. I am also thinking about what will work best on all types of devices i.e. desk tops, lap tops, smart phones and tablets. What are the Pro's & Cons of Using CSS for Drop Down Menus. What are the Pro's & cons of using Javascript for drop down menus. And the same question for jquery. Thank you all in advance for your ideas.

                Web Design | Dec 30, 2012, 11:31 PM | bronxpad
                0
              • Red_Spot_Interactive

                Live Text in Navigation Vs. Image - Does this affect SEO

                I recently was asked the question if having live text in the navigation vs and image affect seo.  For example, refer to this link http://markup.io/v/avsaenq856kw the navigation highlighted is seperate images. The html elements read : ![](</span><strong style=)/images/procedures.png"> Live text html reads like this: Breast » What is better for seo value, or does it now matter having live text or an image?

                Web Design | Feb 16, 2012, 2:05 PM | Red_Spot_Interactive
                0
              • TheARKlady

                XML SiteMap - Right Away or Delay?

                So, I have a new client whose web designer declined to create an XML site map. They said that they would rather wait a year and let Google create one. I am wondering what the opinion of other SEOMoz members is about this--do you create an XML right away or think there is an advantage in delaying? Personally, I always prefer to have one right away--What is the best practice in your experience and why?

                Web Design | Sep 21, 2011, 11:57 PM | TheARKlady
                0
              • deuce1s

                How would restructuring the navigation of my website affect my rankings?

                I want to restructure the navigation of my website for a few reasons: 1. It isn't intuitive/clear to the user 2. It is way too big, it has too many links and thus causes the number of links on many pages to be >100. 3. I want to get rid of file extensions as part of the URLs (.html, .php) 4. I want to achieve a "tree"-like navigation system, with categories, subcategories and so on. In the process of cleaning up my website, I had to 301 redirect a lot of duplicate pages, fix broken links, etc. I have a lot of 301 redirects already, and in the process of restructuring the navigation of my website I know I'm going to get more. Will the addition of new 301 redirects have an effect on my rankings? (I'm basically going to be changing all of the URLs) What kind of SEO effect will restructuring the navigation at the top of the page (reducing the # of links on the main menu) have on my site? What is the best strategy to implement in this situation?

                Web Design | Jul 4, 2011, 10:21 PM | deuce1s
                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.