Optimize website Navigation design

Previously introduced to make it easier for users to find the information they need, it can analyze and optimize the information structure of the website and the search in the station, and the other is the navigation function of the website, so this article mainly analyzes the user's usage of the navigation function of the website, And on this basis, optimize the navigation design of the website reasonably.

The ultimate goal of Web site navigation is to help users find the information they need, and if you're more specific, you can summarize the following 3 uses:

1. Guide users to complete the site of the content of the page jump. This is the most common, global navigation, local navigation and auxiliary navigation are to guide users to browse related pages;

2. Clarify the links between the content of the site and the link. That is, the content of the site to organize an index and understanding, the most common application is the site map and content index table, showing the entire site directory information, to help users quickly find the corresponding content;

3. Position the user in the site. This is fully reflected in breadcrumbs, which helps users identify the relationship between the current page and the overall content of the site, as well as its links and distinctions with other content in the site.

By analyzing the user's use of the site navigation function, you can evaluate the website navigation function design, here mainly from the navigation utilization, implementation, effectiveness and compliance of 4 aspects of analysis:

Web site Navigation Utilization, that is, the user's use of various navigational functions. The most intuitive analysis method is to use the hot map, you can refer to my previous article-the site hits the hot map, you can also use the page overlay map (Overlay), Google analytics above default provides the homepage of the Overlay:

From the diagram can be distinguished from the home page of the use of navigation functions, including the top navigation, sidebar navigation modules. If it's a standalone navigation index page, we can see how many of these pages are browsed (pageviews), Traffic (Visits), and other metrics to analyze how they are used. For example, by clicking on the "Sitemap" in the top navigation of my blog, you enter the index page of the category navigation, you will see that the URL of the page is http://webdataanalysis.net/site-map/, we can Analytics to view the page's access via filter:

By comparing the indexes of each navigation page, we can analyze the user's overall usage of the navigation function and the usage ratio or preference of each navigation.

We need to know how many users actually click on the links in the navigation or how many users are doing the next step when they try to use the navigation feature. So here you can analyze each navigation page's click conversion Rate (CTR), that is, users in the navigation page of the number of clicks/navigation page has been browsed, in fact, the above page covers the graph refers to the page directly to each clickable object Click conversion rate, you can summarize them is the entire page of the click Conversion rate, You can also view the click conversion rates for each link in the navigation page. However, Google Analytics can not provide a number of subpages on the page overlay, you can only select other tools or try to monitor all the click events on the Navigation page.

Another way to analyze the implementation of the navigation function is through the departure rate (exit Rate) This indicator, if a user into the navigation page directly away from the site, then the function of navigation is not implemented (of course, if the user returned to the top page or back to the homepage, navigation function also did not achieve, These operations cannot be reflected in exit Rate. For example, my blog Classification directory navigation page, the URL address of this class page will contain "/category/", so can also directly filter out all such addresses on GA, we look at these pages exit rate situation, the following figure:

Here because of the lack of navigation page exit rate evaluation benchmark, so I can not determine the effect of my navigation page, interested friends can be in the comments below your site or blog Navigation page exit rate posted to see, we exchange comparison.

Unlike the site's content pages, the goal of the navigation page is to let users find the information they want more quickly, and we don't need users to stay on the navigation page for too long, just as Google's slogan: We will be the only arranges into the world who can dour US goal is To have arranges leave we homepage as quickly as possible (let users leave their site as soon as possible).

So for the navigation page, the average page stay time (avg. The shorter the time on page, the higher the quality of the navigation page (and, of course, the user has to click on the line). The average length of the page is also the basic metric of the Analysis page in GA, as shown above.

or the effect of navigation, whether the user is interested in the information provided by the page after using navigation to find the appropriate page, or if it is the information they are looking for.

Suppose the user finds the information they need after using the navigation function or completes the expected task. Then the behavior may appear to continue to stay on the site for some time after using the Navigator, or the user eventually arrives at the task's success page or the site's target page (such as the user completes the registration, the ecommerce website orders or the shopping success, etc.). So we can use the follow-up time of navigation, task completion, target conversion rate of these analytical measures to measure the effectiveness of navigation.

Based on the above 4 aspects of the analysis, we can be targeted to optimize the site.

A to improve the efficiency of effective navigation, the most common users or the best results of navigation in the most eye-catching position;

Combined with the above analysis, those high utilization, effective navigation features are placed in the eye-catching position, making it easier for users to use these features.

(b) Removal of invalid navigation or unmanned navigation, streamlined website design;

Navigation function is not the more the better, as long as the provision of adequate, effective navigation on the line, combined with the above utilization and implementation, those who do not use or click to transform the poor navigation function to streamline.

c improve the relevance of navigation description and corresponding content, do not mislead users, win the trust of users and maintain the user's interest in the site;

Do not try to do the title party, if a navigation page has a good utilization and implementation, then do not disappoint the user's expectations, to provide them with consistent high-quality content, so as to truly retain the user.

D optimize the organization and presentation of navigation page content.

If the effectiveness is not high, users often need to stay in the navigation page for a while to find where they want to go, then perhaps the navigation page has lost its most fundamental value. How to better show the content of navigation may be a complex problem, involving information design, classification, sorting, and so on, or some web designers can come up with some ingenuity to show the way to attract the user's eyes, here directly on the picture bar:

All right, I'm finished with the analysis of website navigation, do you have any more suggestions, please share the comments below.