/Marketing and Communications
CMS Web Support
CMS Web Support

File Naming Navigation Best Practices

This guide establishes shared standards and best practices for organizing, naming, and linking content across the website. Its goal is to create a consistent, intuitive experience for users while supporting accessibility, search engine optimization, and long-term content management. By following these guidelines, content creators and editors can build pages that are easier to navigate, easier to maintain, and aligned with institutional brand and digital strategy goals.

 


NAVIGATION DEPTH GUIDELINES

Maximum Recommended Depth: 3 Levels

  • Level 1 (Primary Navigation): Main sections visible in top navigation menu
  • Level 2 (Secondary Pages): Category pages, accessible from dropdown or section landing pages
  • Level 3 (Tertiary Pages): Specific content pages, detail pages

If you need to go deeper than 3 levels, consider:

  1. Consolidating related content onto single pages with anchor links
  2. Creating a dedicated subsection with its own navigation
  3. Using tags or categories instead of deep hierarchy

 


URL & FILE NAMING CONVENTIONS

Best Practices:

  • Keep URLs and filenames short but descriptive
  • Use lowercase letters only
  • Separate words with hyphens (kebab-case)
  • Maintain consistent hierarchy
  • Avoid special characters, spaces, or underscores

  • Include relevant keywords when appropriate, but do not keyword-stuff

  • Filenames should make sense on their own, without relying on surrounding page context

  • Descriptive filenames support accessibility, image search visibility, and long-term asset management

Good Examples:

  • GOOD: /undergraduate/prospective-students 
  • GOOD: /faculty-staff 
  • GOOD: /phd-programs

  • GOOD: undergraduate-campus-tour.jpg

  • GOOD: faculty-research-lab-chemistry.jpg

  • GOOD: student-life-residence-hall-exterior.jpg

  • GOOD: pa-program-clinical-training.jpg

Bad Examples:

  • AVOID: /Undergraduate/Prospective_Students
  • AVOID: /facultystaff 
  • AVOID: /PhD-Programs

  • AVOID: IMG_4928.JPG

  • AVOID: Undergraduate Campus Tour.png

  • AVOID: faculty_research_lab!.jpg

  • AVOID: final-final-hero-v3.jpg

 


CROSS-LINKING OPPORTUNITIES

Strategic cross-linking helps users discover related content while strengthening site structure and SEO. Thoughtful internal links guide visitors through logical next steps, keep people browsing, and signal relationships between content areas to search engines. When implemented intentionally, cross-linking improves usability, increases engagement, and ensures key academic, research, and student experience content is easy to find and understand.

Cross-linking opportunities include:

  • Research ↔ Faculty Profiles: Link research areas to faculty working in those areas
  • Programs ↔ Courses: Link degree requirements to relevant course listings
  • Career Outcomes ↔ Alumni Spotlights: Connect placement data with real alumni stories
  • Undergraduate Research ↔ Faculty Labs: Connect students with research opportunities
  • Giving ↔ Scholarships: Show donors how their contributions support students
  • Events ↔ News: Promote upcoming events in news items and vice versa
  • Prospective Students ↔ Current Students: Help prospects envision student experience