Navigation and Findability

Your content isn't doing any good if no one can find it. This section outlines ways to organize your content on the page, connect it to other content across our site, and ensure it will show up in search results.

MOST IMPORTANT FIRST

All web content should be written in the inverted pyramid style. Include the most important information at the top of the page. Include secondary and supporting information next. Nonessential detail shouldn’t be included at all.

PROVIDE STRUCTURE

Good navigation lets users understand the structure of your site and access pages quickly. When determining the labeling and order of navigation items, follow these guidelines:

  • Navigation should clearly describe its content. Labels must match the user's goals and expectations. Always avoid ambiguous or "cute" labels.
  • Order navigation by popularity or other contextually logical grouping first. Use alphabetical order as a second dimension for less-popular items.

THINK OUTSIDE YOUR ORG CHART

Users shouldn’t have to know how your agency works in order to find what they're looking for. Organize your content by topic, task or type. Think about the questions your audience commonly asks, and seek to answer those questions prominently.

HEADINGS AND PARAGRAPHS

Properly structured HTML includes semantic information with clues about the content itself. These clues:

  • Help people and search engines determine if your page is relevant and understand how content is organized
  • Allow screen readers to interpret and read the page correctly
  • Keep your content organized for future updates

Heading tags

Heading 1 (<h1>), heading 2 (<h2>) and heading 3 (<h3>) tags are used to define headings and subheadings. All Baltimore County pages must contain one <h1> at the top that summarizes the page in a few words. You should include as many <h2> or <h3> tags as necessary, but if your pages contain many levels of content, consider breaking them into multiple pages.

Paragraph tags

Paragraph tags (<p>) should wrap all of the text on your page. In Drupal CMS, this is called the “paragraph” style. Every paragraph should be contained in its own <p> tag.

USE MEANINGFUL KEYWORDS AND METADATA

All Baltimore County pages must include a page/browser title, a page "teaser" description (metadata) and sidebar content.

Search engines weigh the relevance of results based on these components. By providing clear descriptions of your page in these fields, you improve the chances that users will find what they’re looking for.

In addition, most search engines and social media platforms use web page metadata to generate page summaries for search results and sharing. A unique, properly-formatted browser title and a complete, succinct description will help users determine if your page is the one they’re looking for.