Html 5 main and secondary navigation for SEO best performances

[netbuilder]

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>

[MatthewBarby]

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

[netbuilder]

Why are you inserting

outside

<header>?</header>

[MatthewBarby]

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.

[netbuilder]

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

[MatthewBarby]

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.

[netbuilder]

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]

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.