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.

      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
      • 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. SEO Tactics
    3. Intermediate & Advanced SEO
    4. HTML5 Nav Tag Issue - Be Aware

    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.

    HTML5 Nav Tag Issue - Be Aware

    Intermediate & Advanced SEO
    2
    10
    2360
    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.
    • veezer
      veezer last edited by

      In checking my internal links with GWT, it is apparent that links within the nav tag in HTML5 are discounted by Google as "internal links"

      This could have major repercussions for designing your internal link structure for SEO purposes.

      I was surprised to see this result, as I have never seen it discussed.

      Anyone else notice this, or have any alternative views?

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • sprynewmedia
        sprynewmedia @veezer last edited by

        Two weeks is pretty short time for a new site to get accurate reports from GWT.  The back links I found weren't valuable - none with a page authority over 1.

        I would secure at least one high quality link and wait a few more weeks.

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

          Appears I broke the site... sorry

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • veezer
            veezer last edited by

            _Could we see the site?  _

            www.optimalfoods.org/

            How long ago did you post the nav element?

            The nav bar at top of page has been there since the site went live about two weeks ago. My GWT show only 7 internal links to my home page, but there are 15 pages published

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

              Here is how one could test this to be sure:

              1. Create site on a throw away domain that includes:
              • home page
              • sub page (containing unique text in title and body)
              • orphaned sub page
              1. Place the nav tag on all pages with links to only the first two pages.
              2. Add some dummy content but don't create any other links.
              3. Link to the orphaned page from a decently trusted and ranked page on another site.
              4. Wait 2-4 weeks.
              5. Search for the unique string and write a YouMOZ post about your findings.
              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • sprynewmedia
                sprynewmedia @veezer last edited by

                While I have found it does, you could always use a logo link to accomplish this.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • sprynewmedia
                  sprynewmedia @veezer last edited by

                  To be sure I understand; you have a site-wide header ,

                  <nav>section but you are not seeing the backlinks from all the pages in the GWT internal links report?

                  (Incidentally, my experience has shown these links do count.)

                  Could we see the site?

                  How long ago did you post the nav element?

                  </nav>

                  sprynewmedia 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • veezer
                    veezer last edited by

                    To be clear, I believe it is good SEO practice to ensure that every page of a website contains a link to the Home Page (and other key landing pages as befits the site).

                    Putting a link to the home page WITHIN a nav tag in HTML5 does not accomplish this goal.

                    sprynewmedia 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • veezer
                      veezer last edited by

                      "I presume your issue is you have external links inside a

                      <nav>container?"

                      No - that is not my issue. I have 5 "landing pages" (Home and 2nd tier pages) included in the main nav bar include below my site logo on every page.

                      I had assumed (incorrectly) that those pages would be internally linked to every page of the website - but they are NOT (at least as far as the internal links shown on GWT)

                      </nav>

                      sprynewmedia 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • sprynewmedia
                        sprynewmedia last edited by

                        This seems reasonable and a good way to ensure the link is allocated correctly.

                        I presume your issue is you have external links inside a

                        <nav>container?

                        Follow up: it appears the specifications do suggest the nav element is for internal links - the element is primarily intended for sections that consist of major navigation blocks. External links are generally not considered major navigation, no?

                        http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/sections.html#the-nav-element

                        </nav>

                        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

                        • ColesNathan

                          Is it best practice to have a canonical tags on all pages

                          The website I'm working on has no canonical tags. There is duplicate content so rel=canonicals need adding to certain pages but is it best practice to have a tag on every page ?

                          Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | ColesNathan
                          0
                        • Paul730

                          Phone number link / critical crawler issue

                          I've got 15 critical crawler issues coming up, all of which are (  tel: )links to the contact phone number. As this is a taxi firm, these links are pretty vital to customer conversion. Should I worry about these issues from an SEO perspective? If so, is there anything I can do about it?

                          Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Paul730
                          0
                        • Imagination

                          Proper Title Tags for ecommerce

                          In terms of E-commerce title tags. We are a manufacturer of our own clothing products. We are new to the SEO landscape so if this question is an obvious answer, then i apologize for wasting any one times in advance. We Manufacture our own clothing. Each item has a name. The names are American womens names such as amanda or lori or jenniffer etc. When we create the title tag for them should we include the name of the item itself at the beginning or end.  For example should it be Item Name - Keyword - Keyword - Brand Name(aka manufacturer) or Keyword - Keyword - Item Name - Brand Name (aka manufacturer) The reason we ask this is because we think it would be a waste to rank for actual American names such as Jennifer and Jessica. All that we have read on Moz suggests that it seems to be better to have pertinent keywords in the beginning of the title as opposed to the end. In terms of our brand name we already rank number 1 for every combination of our brand. So we would like to start picking up traffic for the different product types we sell and there respective synonyms. Not sure if i am making any sense. Sorry in advance, and any help is very very much appreciated.

                          Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Imagination
                          0
                        • WebServiceConsulting.com

                          Noindex : Do Follow or No Follow Tags?

                          Hello, I have a website with tags (which have the noindex tag) on each article post. I've been told that I should noindex/nofollow these tag pages, because they are getting link juice passed to them, and since they aren't getting indexed, it's wasting link juice to those pages, when the link juice could be passed to a page that is actually getting indexed. What are your thoughts on this? Also, what would be the point to noindex/follow a page, if you are noindexing that page? Isn't it just wasting link juice? What is the proper SEO way to optimize tags.

                          Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | WebServiceConsulting.com
                          0
                        • BbeS

                          How does the use of Dynamic meta tags effect SEO?

                          I'm evaluating a new client site which was built buy another design firm. My question is they are dynamically creating meta tags and I'm concerned that it is hurting their SEO. When I view the page source this is what I see. <meta name="<a class="attribute-value">keywords</a>" id="<a class="attribute-value">keywordsGoHere</a>" content="" /> <meta name="<a class="attribute-value">description</a>" id="<a class="attribute-value">descriptionGoesHere</a>" content="" /> <title id="<a class="attribute-value">titleGoesHere</a>">title> To me it looks like the tags are not being added to the page, however the title is showing when you view it in a browser and if use a spider view tool, it sees the title. I'm guess it is being called from a DB. So I'm a little concerned though that the search engines are not really seeing the title and description. I'm not worried about the keywords tag. Can anyone shed some light on how this might work? Why it might not being showing the text for the description in the page code and if that will hurt SEO? Thanks for the help!

                          Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BbeS
                          0
                        • AWCthreads

                          Does City In Title Tag Inhibit Broader Reach?

                          I use our city/state in the majority of our title tags and consequently we do very well locallly for the majority of terms on our ecommerce site. I'm wondering however, if this "localized" optimization will inadvertently affect our keyword rankings outside of our city/state? If a keyword query does not include our city or state, would Google interpret our titles as less relevent and therefore move other results ahead of ours? The city/state is last in the string on the title: Blue Widgets - Our Company in City, State Thanks for any insight.

                          Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | AWCthreads
                          0
                        • CommercePundit

                          How to fix issues regarding URL parameters?

                          Today, I was reading help article for URL parameters by Google. http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=1235687 I come to know that, Google is giving value to URLs which ave parameters that change or determine the content of a page. There are too many pages in my website with similar value for Name, Price and Number of product. But, I have restricted all pages by Robots.txt with following syntax. URLs:
                          http://www.vistastores.com/table-lamps?dir=asc&order=name
                          http://www.vistastores.com/table-lamps?dir=asc&order=price
                          http://www.vistastores.com/table-lamps?limit=100 Syntax in Robots.txt
                          Disallow: /?dir=
                          Disallow: /?p=
                          Disallow: /*?limit= Now, I am confuse. Which is best solution to get maximum benefits in SEO?

                          Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | CommercePundit
                          0
                        • Peter264

                          Should HTML Heading Tags ALWAYS be in Hierarchical Order?

                          The question is in the title: Should HTML Heading Tags ALWAYS be in Hierarchical Order? For example, using them in order: H1, H2, H3... etc. Or is it OK to have H2 tags before the main H1 tag on a page? - for example sidebar content with H2 headings before the main content H1 tag? Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

                          Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Peter264
                          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.