Navigating the Website Menu Minefield: A Digital Marketer's Tale

This article is about a digital marketing manager's epic quest to rescue a chaotic online menu.

As a digital marketing consultant, I'd like to share with you our latest project — a navigation change on a website. I give you an overview of the challenges we encountered and the specific actions we took to improve the user experience.

Challenges:

Lack of Concrete Figures: Initially, we faced the challenge that the proposed menu changes were not grounded in specific numerical data. Instead, decisions were based solely on subjective beliefs.
Complex Structure: The newly designed menu deviated significantly from practical customer needs. Its extensive navigation structure led to decreased site responsiveness. Furthermore, the headings and category names did not align with users' actual requirements.
Content Duplication: The introduction of the new menu created a parallel system alongside the existing one. Consequently, nearly 80 category pages were duplicated. Interestingly, the new structure included canonical links to the old pages, inadvertently hindering Google's indexing process.
URL Changes: The reorganization of categories necessitated alterations to product addresses.

Actions Taken:

Canonical Link Removal: To resolve conflicts between the new and old menu structures, I eliminated the canonical links.
Enhanced Category Descriptions: I meticulously crafted new category descriptions, totaling approximately 700,000 characters.
Detailed Product Descriptions: I enriched product descriptions with no less than 1,350,000 characters. This comprehensive approach ensures that users gain a deeper understanding of the offerings.
Internal Linking: By strategically implementing internal links, I facilitated smoother navigation within the main categories.
New Site Map: We introduced a temporary site map featuring only the category tree and essential products. This expedited Google's indexing of the new categories.

Results:

Our efforts have yielded positive outcomes. Website traffic has rebounded, and users can now effortlessly discover the products that pique their interest. If you want similar results for your website, book a consultation — we will tackle your challenges together.