Does using a hash menu system drive SEO power to my sub-pages?
-
My website (a large professional one) uses a interesting menu system. When a user hovers over text (which is not clickable), then a larger sub-menu appears on the screen, when they hover over something else, then this sub-menu changes or disappears. This menu is driven by a hash(#), which makes me wonder. I this giving my sub-pages an SEO kick?
Or... is there another way that we should be doing this in order to get that SEO kick?
-
I think we'll need to see the site in order to provide any meaningful and specific advice in this case.
-
I've never used a CMS that does anchor links by default, so unfortunately I won't be of much help in offering a solution. I would try to fix this in the back-end of the CMS though, as it's not going to help SEO in anyway if all your content lives at the same root URL. You should aim for one (indexable) URL for each piece of content as recommended here by John Mueller.
-
Unfortunately my site has implemented the menu system across the site this way.
Does the sub-menu items (which are links that appear on hover) get an SEO boost?
Any ideas on how to 'correct' this menu system to optimize for SEO? Basically... is there anything I can do to convert this implementation into something that would be optimized appropriately?
-
You should avoid using anchor links (hash URLs) as primary navigation or URL structure. Google won't index them individually, since they're technically just another part of the same root page.
They can serve a purpose for usability, but this case isn't one of them.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
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.
Related Questions
-
Shall we add engaging and useful FAQ content in all our pages or rather not because of duplication and reduction of unique content?
We are considering to add at the end of alll our 1500 product pages answers to the 9 most frequently asked questions. These questions and answers will be 90% identical for all our products and personalizing them more is not an option and not so necessary since most questions are related to the process of reserving the product. We are convinced this will increase engagement of users with the page, time on page and it will be genuinely useful for the visitor as most visitors will not visit the seperate FAQ page. Also it will add more related keywords/topics to the page.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | lcourse
On the downside it will reduce the percentage of unique content per page and adds duplication. Any thoughts about wether in terms of google rankings we should go ahead and benefits in form of engagement may outweight downside of duplication of content?0 -
ECommerce SEO for product categories and sub-categories
Hello everyone, We run a Magento store, and I have a general question about SEO-eCommerce. We recently launched a new site where we've modified the menu navigation for product categories. So let's say in the past we had a main category called 'Jackets' in the top navigation bar, and once you were on the jackets page you had a few subcategories to choose from. On the new site, we reworked the navigation bar in order to get our customers there in fewer clicks. So right away in the top bar, the customer can click 'Casual Jackets', 'Leather Jackets' and 'Winter Jackets'. We no longer have an internal link to the parent category 'Jackets'. Now here's the question:
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | yacpro13
-Do I 301 redirect 'jackets' to one of the sub-categories of my choosing?
or
-Do I keep the main category 'jackets' even though we don't actually link to it internally? I see pros and cons for both, and I'd like to proceed in the way that will be most beneficial from a rnakings point of view for all jackets categories. Thanks!0 -
Menu Structure & SEO
Hi I have been trying to decide whether we need to change our menu structure http://www.key.co.uk/en/key/ We have a lot of subcategories which are not in the menu structure and for SEO I wonder whether its best to have menu drop downs, so if a customer hovers over one category, it will display all the subcategories within this. I am concerned that sub categories we are trying to rank are many levels away from the homepage e.g If you want to find leather office chairs from the homepage, you have to go to the 'More categories' link, then choose seating > office seating > leather office seating. Users need to do a lot of navigating before seeing what we offer. I would prefer if a user could see these options in the menu when they hover over it. Does anyone think this would help SEO or just customer journey? Thank you
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BeckyKey0 -
Is their value in linking to PPC landing pages and using rel="canonical"
I have ppc landing pages that are similar to my seo page. The pages are shorter with less text with a focus on converting visitors further along in the purchase cycle. My questions are: 1. Is there a benefit for having the orphan ppc pages indexed or should I no index them? 2. If indexing does provide benefits, should I create links from my site to the ppc pages or should I just submit them in a sitemap? 3. If indexed, should I use rel="canonical" and point the ppc versions to the appropriate organic page? Thanks,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BrandExpSteve0 -
E-commerce System without error page
I´d love to know your thoughts about this particular issue: Vtex is top3 e-commerce system in brazil. ( issue is huge) the system do not use 4XX responde codes If there is a error page, they just redirect it to a search page with 200 code. in Google index we can find a lot of "empty" pages ( indexed error pagess) We can´t use noindex for them Example:
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | SeoMartin1
http://www.taniabulhoes.com.br/this-is-a-test
OR
http://www.taniabulhoes.com.br/thisisatest Any suggestions?0 -
Sub domain vs. sub folder
I know this has probably been asked many times and answered too, but things change a lot, so I would like to know with current search engine algos and co. The scenario is as follows: Building an ecommerce site and also want to incorporate a Q&A section, for support and FAQ's and such. should we go ahead and sub domain this like: community.test.com or rater go with test.com/community. I would really like to know why, why not and maybe some real life examples. Thank you all
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | s-s0 -
# element above Menu - Is there any SEO Value to it
Is there any Value to having the H1 element above the MENU in a Typical Application ? My intention is to tell the "Bot" that the H1 element is more important than the Menu Items . Are there any examples of such sites . The closest that I have seen is (NOT MY SITES) http://www.airfarewatchdog.com/ and http://www.airfarewatchdog.com/cheap-flights/from-dallas-texas/1531/?airport_code=dfw&depsub=1&c2calert=0&deal_alert=0&from_hp=true Here they (second link) they have H1 above the Bread Crumb ( they dont have any menu though).
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Chaits0 -
Deep Page is Ranking for Main Keyword, But I Want the Home Page to Rank
A deep page is ranking for a competitive and essential keyword, I'd like the home page to rank. The main reasons are probably: This specific page is optimized for just that keyword. Contains keyword in URL I've optimized the home page for this keyword as much as possible without sacrificing the integrity of the home page and the other keywords I need to maintain. My main question is: If I use a 301 redirect on this deep page to the home page, am I risking my current ranking, or will my home page replace it on the SERPs? Thanks so much in advance!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | ClarityVentures0