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.
Hamburger Menu on Desktop Version - Affect SEO?
-
Hi There
We are working with developers of a site redesign of an existing site.
They are keen on a hamburger menu on the desktop, as well as mobile. Can I confirm if this will have any implications for the SEO rankings?
Many thanks in advance for assistance
-
It shouldn't have any effect on SEO but it may cause a usability issue, if people can't find what they want some search engines can detect that could have an indirect effect on SEO
-
Remember to focus on user experiences your not designing the website for yourself but rather for your customers.
-
It won't have any direct effects on your SEO (mobile is more than 50% of web traffic nowadays, and responsive designs use hamburger menus). Google is also capable of reading anchor texts in your collapsed hamburger menus, so no worries.
However, from a UX point of view, I do think users appreciate having a visible menu on desktop to find the options they are looking for, so maybe consider that you will have less internal navigation in desktop. Hope this helps!
-
Given that most desktop navigations are already based on hover states or otherwise hidden, I don't see this being any different in terms of direct ranking impact. I suppose the top level menu of a usual desktop navigation is visible, and some tests still show a preference from Google towards visible content.
That said, the indirect impact of users finding the site less usable or intuitive on desktop is probably more significant, both for SEO and other considerations. Google will notice, one way or another, if users don't like using your website, so you should make sure this is tested to your satisfaction.
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
-
On-page SEO
This is a question for the organic SEO experts, once you added the main keyword that you want to rank for in the homepage title, meta title plus meta description, perhaps once or twice in the text on the homepage. How often do you then write it in the content marketing, say blog posts, we want to rank higher on Google for "SEO agencies Cardiff" however if you mention this in the blog posts too much say once a week, this could lead to over optimisation issues?
On-Page Optimization | | sarahwalsh1 -
Strange Traffic Movements
Hi there, I'm wondering if anyone can shed some light on this... I'm working with a client whose website is experiencing some odd organic traffic patterns. See screenshot attached. As you can see, there was a sudden cliff fall about a month ago, and then it recovered (almost) entirely. Then, a month to the day later, the same thing happened again. What is the likelihood that this is a data glitch vs an algorithm thing? Any light you can shed on this would be appreciated. Thanks,
Search Behavior | | mhenshall
Marc
Screenshot 2023-08-18 at 09.37.26.png image url)0 -
Track SEO performance for specific sub-directories
How can i track performance metrics for a group of subdirectories.
SEO Tactics | | Miradoro
I.e
domain.com/de/en_uk
domain.com/de/de_de
domain.com/at/en_uk
domain.com/at/de_de0 -
How Do SSL Certificates Affect On SEO?
Does really a SSL certificate affect on SEO? How? Why? According to my hosting provider (ganje.host), "https" improves SEO! As I know, It decreases speed. So how does it improve SEO when my speed is slower than before?
On-Page Optimization | | MirzaeeMustafa0 -
Best SEO Extension/Plugin for NOPCommerce Site?
Hi I am working for a client who is using NOPCommerce. It doesn't look like they have a SEO Plugin in - although you can add meta descriptions to Products - which works fine, the Product categories have SEO components too but do not seem to work and all 'other' content /CMS pages have no SEO components whatsoever. Does anyone know of a plugin which would resolve this? (PS never used NOPCommerce before!)
On-Page Optimization | | AllieMc0 -
Disclaimer in footer - is it affecting my SEO?
For legal reasons I am required to include a 266 word disclaimer in the footer of every page of my credit card comparison site creditcards.com.au. My question is in 2 parts: is this indexable content likely to be hurting my SEO? if so, what is the best way to include the text in the footer but prevent search engines from indexing it? Thanks.
On-Page Optimization | | OMGPyrmont0 -
Optimizing for another keyword than the menu name
Hi I would like to hear if someone could help me decide whether or not it is important regarding SEO that the menu name is the same as the keyword we want to rank for. The site is a static site and one of our most important keywords. To give an example. Our menu name is "cars" and we want to rank for "cheap rental cars".
On-Page Optimization | | KennethK0