Navigation Changes in Website Redesigns

Navigation changes are among the most critical aspects of a website redesign. While they are often necessary to improve user experience, they can have significant impacts on search engine optimization. This guide shows how to implement navigation changes in an SEO-safe manner.

Why Navigation Changes Are Critical

Website navigation is the backbone of information architecture and affects both user experience and SEO performance. Incorrectly implemented changes can lead to:

Loss of Backlink Power
Deterioration of crawl efficiency
Confusion for users and search engines
Ranking losses for important keywords

Types of Navigation Changes

Structural Changes

URL Changes in Navigation

Renaming main categories
Changing URL structure
New hierarchy levels

Example Restructuring:

Old: /products/category-a/
New: /categories/category-a/

Content Changes

Navigation Texts and Labels

Changing menu texts
Adding new categories
Removing categories

Anchor Text Optimization

Improving keyword relevance
Adapting to new content strategy

SEO Checklist for Navigation Changes

Before Implementation

Backup Current Navigation
- Document all URLs
- Screenshots of navigation
- Export menu structure
Conduct Link Audit
- Identify internal links
- Document external backlinks
- Analyze link juice flow
Create Keyword Mapping
- Which keywords are linked to which URLs?
- Which pages have the highest relevance?

During Implementation

Set Up 301 Redirects
- All old URLs to new URLs
- Avoid redirect chains
- Adjust canonical tags
Update Internal Links
- Navigation links in templates
- Breadcrumb navigation
- Footer links
Update XML Sitemap
- Add new URLs
- Remove old URLs
- Adjust sitemap index

After Implementation

Notify Google Search Console
- URL removal for old URLs
- Submit new sitemap
- Request crawling
Set Up Monitoring
- Traffic monitoring
- Ranking tracking
- Crawl error monitoring

Avoiding Common Mistakes

Technical Errors

Faulty Redirects

Avoid redirect loops
302 instead of 301 redirects
Missing redirects

Crawl Problems

JavaScript-based navigation without fallback
Missing internal links
Broken links in navigation

Content Errors

Keyword Losses

Important keywords removed from navigation
Anchor texts not optimized
Relevant categories deleted

User Experience Problems

Confusing new structure
Missing search function
Mobile navigation not optimized

Best Practices for Different Navigation Types

Main Navigation

Desktop Navigation

Maximum 7 main categories
Clear, descriptive labels
Logical hierarchy

Mobile Navigation

Implement hamburger menu
Touch-optimized elements
Fast loading times

Footer Navigation

Structured Links

Link important categories
Legal pages (imprint, privacy policy)
Social media links

Breadcrumb Navigation

Implement Schema Markup

JSON-LD for breadcrumbs
Correct hierarchy
Mobile-optimized display

Monitoring and Measurement

Important KPIs

Metric

Measurement

Target Value

Organic Traffic

Google Analytics

No Loss > 5%

Keyword Rankings

Ranking Tools

Stable Positions

Crawler Errors

Google Search Console

Minimal 404 Errors

User Engagement

Bounce Rate, Time on Page

Improved Values

Monitoring Timeline

Week 1-2: Immediate Impact

Monitor crawl errors
Fix 404 errors
Test redirects

Week 3-4: Ranking Adjustments

Check keyword positions
Analyze traffic development
Collect user feedback

Month 2-3: Long-term Impact

Complete SEO analysis
Performance comparison
Derive optimizations

Tools and Resources

SEO Tools

Screaming Frog: Crawling and link analysis
Ahrefs: Backlink monitoring
Google Search Console: Official Google data
Google Analytics: Traffic monitoring

Testing Tools

Redirect Checker: Test redirects
Mobile-Friendly Test: Check mobile navigation
PageSpeed Insights: Measure performance impact