Paul Cookson said, “Websites promote you 24/7; No employee will do that.” And Mr Cookson speaks the truth. However, when your website is very difficult to navigate, your website will do the opposite of promoting you.
There are a good number of things that you can do to make your website easier to navigate, including dividing your categories clearly, making all navigation elements clickable and ensuring your search feature is working. Another way to improve your site’s navigation is through anchor links.
Navigation through anchor links
What are anchor links?
An anchor link can be defined as a web link that allows users to jump to a specific point on a website page. They are invisible position markers that you can place anywhere on your website to help your users move around your site easier. You can choose to place your anchor links in the header, footer or a specific paragraph or button on your site – you have endless options!
When a user clicks on an anchor link, it will take them exactly to where they want to be whether that is back to the top or down to the bottom of the page or to your FAQ page. Anchor links can be used in one of two ways on your site:
- Link elements such as buttons, images or lines of text to an anchor link.
- Create a floating anchor menu that follows your visitors as they scroll through your website.
Best practices for putting together anchor links
There are a few best practices that you should adhere to when putting together anchor links.
Be natural as well as versatile
Every section of a website (this includes links and their affiliated anchor text) needs to deliver tangible value to the users of the site. Links must be inserted only where website users expect to see them so that they can become informed about something that is valuable to them.
With Google’s algorithms becoming cleverer every year, avoid many repetitive and keyword-based anchors in your website’s anchor text cloud. If you do not do this, more than likely you’ll get a penalty.
