An e-commerce site with 200 product pages and a menu with 9 main entries: we see that regularly. The problem does not come from the volume of pages, but from how they are linked to each other. When we rework the structure of a website, we act on navigation, natural SEO, and conversion rate at the same time. It all starts with the hierarchy.
Visual Stability of Menus and Core Web Vitals
Before discussing hierarchy or categories, a technical point deserves attention. Google measures the visual stability of a page via the Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). When a dropdown menu or navigation filter causes a visible shift in content at the moment of its opening, the CLS increases and navigation drop-offs do too.
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In practical terms, if your mega-menu pushes content down instead of overlapping, you lose users even before they have clicked on a category. The fix is often simple: reserve space for the menu in CSS or use an absolutely positioned layer. On list pages (categories, search results), the problem multiplies when side filters reload the page without maintaining the scroll position.
You can check the impact by consulting the Chrome UX Report for your own domain. A site whose menus generate a CLS above Google’s “good” threshold penalizes itself on two fronts: user experience and ranking in search results. To observe how pages are organized on a site that structures its content thematically, the structure of the Ideelogique site provides a concrete overview of a flat and readable hierarchy.
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Website Hierarchy: Three Levels Maximum for Most Cases
The most useful rule regarding site structure remains click depth. Every page should be accessible within three clicks from the homepage. Beyond that, search engines explore less efficiently and users drop off.
For a showcase site of 15 to 30 pages, two levels are sufficient: homepage, then service or content pages. For an e-commerce site or an editorial site with hundreds of pages, we move to three levels: homepage, categories, then subcategories or product sheets.
A common trap: creating subcategories for every variation instead of grouping. A furniture site that separates “black office chairs,” “gray office chairs,” and “white office chairs” into three distinct categories dilutes its internal linking. It’s better to have a single “office chairs” category with color filters.
Internal Linking and SEO Juice Distribution
The hierarchy is not limited to the main menu. Contextual links within the content (links between blog articles, between complementary product sheets) redistribute the authority of the pages. A good internal linking strategy connects pages by thematic relevance, not by proximity in the menu.
In practice, it is recommended to link each new page to at least two existing pages that cover a related topic. Orphan pages (with no internal incoming links) are nearly invisible to indexing bots.
Mobile Navigation: Fewer Entries, More Predictive Search
Feedback varies on this point by sector, but a trend has been confirmed for several years: on mobile, users prefer a very reduced navigation combined with a predictive search bar, rather than a mega-menu transposed from the desktop version.
The Baymard Institute has documented this behavior on e-commerce sites. The combination of “main menu with four or five entries + search with automatic suggestions” outperforms complex structures on small screens. The mega-menu remains relevant on desktop for sites with large catalogs, but its direct adaptation to mobile degrades navigation instead of improving it.
- Limit the mobile menu to a maximum of five entries, prioritizing high-traffic or high-intent purchase categories.
- Display the search bar permanently (not hidden behind a magnifying glass icon), with suggestions appearing as soon as the first letters are typed.
- Remove sub-menus with more than two levels on mobile: they generate click errors and systematic backtracking.
Task-Oriented Navigation for B2B and Institutional Sites
On B2B sites or institutional portals, navigation through classic sections (Products, Services, About, Contact) performs poorly when the catalog is dense. The Nielsen Norman Group has documented an alternative approach: task-oriented navigation hubs.
The principle is to offer, in addition to the classic menu, blocks or pages that stem from the visitor’s intent. Instead of “Our software solutions,” we propose “I want to automate my billing” or “I’m looking for a tool for my field team.” A/B tests on B2B sites show that this approach significantly improves content findability.
We do not replace the main navigation; we complement it. This dual entry (by section and by task) works particularly well on homepages and landing pages of advertising campaigns, where the visitor arrives with a specific intent but without knowing the site’s nomenclature.
Accessibility and Keyboard Navigation
The WCAG 2.2 guidelines published by the W3C add requirements regarding the minimum size of clickable targets and keyboard navigation. A menu whose items are less than 24 pixels on each side poses problems for users with motor disabilities.
Beyond regulatory compliance, an accessible site is one where navigation works for all usage contexts: touchscreen, keyboard navigation, screen reader. Ensuring that each menu item is reachable via the Tab key and that the active state is visually distinct remains a simple test to conduct before any production rollout.
The structure of a website is built from the actual journeys of users, not from an internal flowchart. Whether the site has twenty pages or two thousand, the same principles apply: limited depth, coherent internal linking, menus adapted to the medium. The rest is testing and iteration based on your own analytics data.