Keep the top level short
Aim for five to seven items in the main menu. Research on how people choose among options suggests that longer lists slow decisions, and on a phone every extra item pushes content further down the menu panel. Typical items are Services, About, Reviews or Projects, Contact, and perhaps Pricing or Blog.
If you have twelve ideas, group them. Put the detail pages under a parent item instead of promoting each one to the top level.
Name items for the visitor, not for you
Use the words a customer would type into a search box. 'Kitchen Remodeling' is clearer than 'Solutions' or 'What We Do.' 'Contact' beats 'Let's Connect.' Clever labels make people stop and think, and that pause is where they leave.
Avoid giving two items names that sound alike, such as Services and Offerings. If a visitor cannot predict what is behind a label, rename it.
Handle dropdowns carefully
Dropdown menus work with a mouse hover but not on a touch screen, where there is no hover. On phones the parent item must either open the submenu when tapped or link to a page that lists the children. Test this on a real device.
Keep dropdowns to one level. A menu inside a menu inside a menu is hard to use with a thumb and hard for screen reader users. If you need that depth, a services overview page with cards usually does the job better.
Give the main action its own place
Set your contact or booking link apart from the other items, for example as a button at the right end of the menu. On mobile, keep a phone icon or tappable number visible in the header. A person ready to call should never have to open a menu to find the number.
Make sure the logo links back to the homepage, since many people expect that and use it to reset.
Footer and secondary links
The footer is where people look for the details that do not fit in the top menu: address, hours, service area, privacy policy and links to social profiles. Repeating your main service links there also helps visitors who reached the bottom of a long page and want to jump elsewhere.
Once the menu is live, look at analytics to see which items get clicked. Items nobody uses can be merged or moved. Items used heavily may deserve more prominence.
Test the menu with real people
Ask three people who do not know your business to find something specific, such as your service area or how to book. Watch where they click without helping. Hesitation, backtracking and opening the wrong page are all signs that a label or grouping needs to change.
You can also run a simple card sort by writing each page on a slip of paper and asking people to group them. The groups they make often suggest better menu headings than the ones you chose. Repeat the check after any redesign, because new pages tend to be added to the menu without anyone removing the old ones.
Common questions
Should I use a hamburger menu on desktop?
Generally no. On a wide screen there is room to show the main items, and visible links are used more often than hidden ones. Save the collapsed menu for phones.
Does the menu affect search engines?
Yes. Plain text links to your key pages help search engines find them and understand which ones matter. Avoid menus that only work through scripts that fail to load.
This guide is general information. Search engines change how they work and their guidelines; check Google's current documentation for your situation. Nobody can guarantee a ranking.