About Repetition in Web Site Navigation
Rustybrick runs a post on Secondary Navigation Links are Recommended, commenting a WMW thread titled Duplicate Navigation Links Downsides. While in the thread at WMW the main concern is content duplication (not penalized in navigation elements as Rustybrick and several contributors point out), the nuggets are provided by Search Engine Roundtable stating "having two of the same link, pointing to the same page, and if it is of use to the end user, will not hurt your rankings. In fact, they may help with getting your site indexed and ranking you higher (due to the anchor text)". I think this statement is worth a few thoughts, because its underlying truth is more complex than it sounds at the first sight.
Thesis 1: Repeating the code of the topmost navigation at the page's bottom is counter productive
Why? Every repetition of link blocks devalues their weight assigned by search engines. That goes for on-the-page duplication as well as for section-wide or especially site-wide repetition. One (or max. two) link(s) to upper levels is(are) enough, because providing too many off-topic-while-on-theme-links dilute the topical authority of the node and devaluate its linking power with regard to topic authority.
Solution: Make use of user friendly and search engine unfriendly menus at the top of the page, then put the vertical links leading to main sections and the root at the very bottom (a naturally cold zone with next to zero linking power). In the left- or right-handed navigation link to the next upper level, link the path to the root in breadcrumbs only.
Thesis 2: Passing PageRank™ works different from passing topical authority via anchor text
While every link (internal or external) passes PageRank™ (with duplicated links probably less than with unique links caused by a dampening factor), topical authority passed via anchor text is subject of a block specific weighting. As more a navigation element gets duplicated, as less topical reputation it will pass with its links. That means that anchor text in site-wide navigation elements and templated page areas is totally and utterly useless.
Solution: Use different anchor text in bread crumbs and menu items, and don't repeat menus.
Summary:
1. All navigational links help with indexing, at least with crawling, but not all links help with ranking.
2. (Not too often) repeated links in navigation elements with different anchor text help with rankings.
3. Links in hot zones like bread crumbs at the top of a page as well as links within the body text perfectly boost SERP placements, because they pass topical reputation. Links in cold zones like in bottom lines or duplicated navigation elements are user friendly, but don't boost SERP positionining that much, because their one and only effect is PageRank™ distribution to a pretty low degree.
Read more on this topic here.
Tags: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Web Site Development
Thesis 1: Repeating the code of the topmost navigation at the page's bottom is counter productive
Why? Every repetition of link blocks devalues their weight assigned by search engines. That goes for on-the-page duplication as well as for section-wide or especially site-wide repetition. One (or max. two) link(s) to upper levels is(are) enough, because providing too many off-topic-while-on-theme-links dilute the topical authority of the node and devaluate its linking power with regard to topic authority.
Solution: Make use of user friendly and search engine unfriendly menus at the top of the page, then put the vertical links leading to main sections and the root at the very bottom (a naturally cold zone with next to zero linking power). In the left- or right-handed navigation link to the next upper level, link the path to the root in breadcrumbs only.
Thesis 2: Passing PageRank™ works different from passing topical authority via anchor text
While every link (internal or external) passes PageRank™ (with duplicated links probably less than with unique links caused by a dampening factor), topical authority passed via anchor text is subject of a block specific weighting. As more a navigation element gets duplicated, as less topical reputation it will pass with its links. That means that anchor text in site-wide navigation elements and templated page areas is totally and utterly useless.
Solution: Use different anchor text in bread crumbs and menu items, and don't repeat menus.
Summary:
1. All navigational links help with indexing, at least with crawling, but not all links help with ranking.
2. (Not too often) repeated links in navigation elements with different anchor text help with rankings.
3. Links in hot zones like bread crumbs at the top of a page as well as links within the body text perfectly boost SERP placements, because they pass topical reputation. Links in cold zones like in bottom lines or duplicated navigation elements are user friendly, but don't boost SERP positionining that much, because their one and only effect is PageRank™ distribution to a pretty low degree.
Read more on this topic here.
Tags: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Web Site Development
 Stumble It! |
 Post it to del.icio.us |
posted by Sebastian @ Monday, September 12, 2005 · PERMANENT LINK
-->
Subscribe to my blog
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home