Are You Making These Common Website Navigation Mistakes?

Navigation might seem like the most straightforward part of your website, but it's often where things go subtly wrong. Even small navigation issues can significantly impact user experience and conversion rates. Let's explore the most common navigation mistakes we see on business websites—and how to fix them before they cost you customers.

Reinventing the Wheel

In an effort to stand out, some websites create unique navigation systems that visitors have never encountered before. While innovation has its place, navigation is rarely where you want to experiment with novel concepts.

Why? Because users have strong mental models about how websites should work. When your navigation breaks these expectations, visitors must figure out your system instead of focusing on your content.

Common examples include:

• Unlabeled icon-only navigation that forces users to guess what each symbol means
• Hidden navigation that appears only after specific interactions
• Horizontal scrolling navigation on desktop devices
• Navigation that changes location or behavior across different pages

The fix: Stick with navigation patterns that are widely used in your industry. Save your creativity for content and visual design elements that won't impact usability.

Organizing by Company Structure, Not User Needs

One of the most pervasive navigation problems occurs when websites organize content based on internal company departments rather than how visitors think about the business.

For example, if your company has separate departments for commercial and residential services, you might naturally create navigation categories for "Commercial Services" and "Residential Services." But if many of your services overlap, visitors might instead wonder, "Do they offer landscaping?" regardless of which department handles it.

The fix: Organize navigation based on user research, not your org chart. Create categories that align with how visitors actually think about what you offer. This often means organizing by solution type rather than customer segment.

Navigation Overload

When everything is a priority, nothing is. Yet many websites try to include every possible destination in their main navigation, creating overwhelming choice paralysis for visitors.

Research consistently shows that more options lead to fewer decisions. We've seen conversion improvements of 20%+ simply by reducing navigation options from 12+ items to 5-7 focused choices.

Signs of navigation overload include:

• Main navigation with more than 7 top-level items
• Dropdown menus with more than 7-10 options each
• Multiple tiers of nested submenus that create "dropdown tunnels"
• Secondary navigations competing with primary navigation

The fix: Ruthlessly prioritize what deserves primary navigation space. Move less-crucial links to the footer, sidebar, or contextual in-page links. For complex sites, consider progressive disclosure patterns that reveal additional options only after a top-level selection.

Inconsistent Navigation Behavior

Nothing frustrates users faster than navigation that behaves unpredictably as they move through your site. Yet inconsistency creeps in easily, especially on websites built or updated over time by different people.

Common inconsistencies include:

• Navigation that changes location or formatting between pages
• Mobile navigation that works differently from one page to another
• Inconsistent highlighting of the current section
• Some menu items that link to pages and others that trigger dropdowns

The fix: Create a navigation system that follows the same rules throughout the site. Document these patterns in a simple style guide to ensure consistency as your site evolves.

Ignoring Mobile Navigation Needs

Many websites still treat mobile navigation as a miniaturized version of desktop navigation rather than recognizing the unique requirements of touch interfaces and smaller screens.

Problematic mobile navigation patterns include:

• Touch targets (links or buttons) that are too small or too close together
• Dropdown menus that are difficult to tap accurately
• Navigation that consumes too much valuable screen space
• Complex hover states that don't translate to touch interfaces

The fix: Design mobile navigation independently from desktop, focusing on thumb-friendly interactions and simplified options. Consider what tasks mobile users prioritize and make those pathways effortless.

The 5-Second Navigation Test

If someone unfamiliar with your business lands on your website, can they find what they're looking for within 5 seconds? If not, your navigation likely needs improvement.