Adopted — this structure is now built into the Concept G and Concept H comps for review.
1. Executive summary
Guilford's primary navigation drop-downs are long, flat, and alphabetical — 13 to 16 links each
under Academics, Admission & Aid, Life at Guilford, and Who We Are. Two problems compound:
Redundancy with the hub pages. A large share of items in each drop-down are also surfaced as
cards/links on that section's landing ("hub") page. The drop-down is doing the hub page's job — twice.
Mixed content in one flat list. Each menu blends primary tasks, niche interior pages, audience paths
(High School / Transfer / Veteran…), transactional tools (Registrar, Student Accounts), and links to
external, non-Drupal systems (catalog, athletics, bookstore, a Google Site) — with no grouping.
Recommendation: Treat each drop-down as a curated shortlist (6–8 links), not a sitemap.
Move hub-redundant, niche, transactional, and external-system links out of the menu and let the hub page be the complete index.
Group what remains, and route audience paths through the homepage "For You" bar rather than repeating them in every menu.
57 → 26
drop-down links across the 4 menus
≈ 55%
fewer top-nav links
0
pages removed — all stay one click away
2. How we audited this
We pulled the live guilford.edu mega-menu for each section and compared it, link by link, against the links
that already appear in the body of that section's hub landing page. Any drop-down item already promoted on the
hub is a redundancy candidate — it can leave the top nav without becoming harder to find. We then classified
every remaining item by type (primary task, audience path, interior/niche page, transactional tool, external system) to surface
the second tier of opportunities.
This is a public-site audit. Final counts should be validated against Drupal's real menu config + Google Analytics
(which items actually get clicked) once admin/GA access lands — see §9.
3. Consolidation levers (the options)
A · De-duplicate against the hub. Remove drop-down items already featured on the hub page. The hub becomes the full index; the menu becomes a shortcut. (The specific ask.)
B · Group, don't just list. Replace the flat alphabetical list with 2–3 labeled clusters (e.g., Study · Experience · Resources). Same links, far lower cognitive load.
C · Demote external / non-Drupal systems. Catalog, athletics, bookstore, calendar, library, Google-Sites pages belong in a hub "Quick links" strip or the footer — not the primary menu.
D · Route audiences, don't list them. High School / Transfer / International / Veteran / Graduate / Adult are audiences, not nav items — send them through the homepage "For You" bar + one block on the Admission hub.
E · Cap the menu at 6–8 links. Long menus aren't scanned. Curate to the highest-traffic, highest-intent links; everything else lives on the hub.
F · Merge near-duplicates. Three financial-aid links → one "Financial Aid" group; two "High School" entries → one; two "Student Life" entries → one.
4. Section-by-section audit & recommendation
Action key:
KEEP stays in the slimmed menu ·
HUB remove; already on the hub page ·
QUICK-LINKS / FOOTER external or transactional → demote ·
MERGE fold into a group ·
AUDIENCE route via the "For You" bar.
4.1 Academics — 16 links → 6
Drop-down item
On hub?
Action
Why
Majors and Minors (/program-finder)
✓
KEEP
The #1 academics task.
Departments and Centers
KEEP
Primary browse path.
Hands-On Learning
✓
KEEP
Signature brand story.
Guilford College Rise (/RISE)
✓
KEEP
Flagship program — relabelled High School Programs in the menu, which is what prospective families are actually looking for.
Ethical Leadership
KEEP
Differentiator (Principled Problem Solving).
College Catalog (external)
KEEP ↗
High-intent; flag as external.
Your First Year Experience
✓
HUB
Already featured on the hub.
General Education
HUB
Curricular detail → interior page.
Honors Program
✓
HUB
Niche; on the hub.
Global at Guilford (external)
QUICK-LINKS
Lives in the catalog system.
Summer School
HUB
Seasonal / niche.
Academic Resources
✓
HUB
Student-facing; on the hub.
Accessibility Resource Center
✓
HUB
Support service; hub + footer.
Hege Academic Commons / Library
QUICK-LINKS
Destination site → quick-links/footer.
Registrar
FOOTER
Transactional; current-student.
Student Accounts
FOOTER
Transactional; current-student.
Proposed Academics menu
Study — Majors & Minors · Departments & Centers · College Catalog ↗
Experience — Hands-On Learning · High School Programs · Ethical Leadership
+ "See all academics →" linking the hub.
4.2 Admission & Aid — 13 links → 7
Drop-down item
On hub?
Action
Why
Apply to Guilford
✓
KEEP
Primary conversion.
Request Information
KEEP
Primary conversion.
Financial Aid and Costs
✓
KEEP
Group head for the aid trio.
Tuition and Fees
MERGE
Sub-page of Financial Aid.
How to Apply for Aid
✓
MERGE
Sub-page of Financial Aid.
The Guilford Commitment
✓
KEEP
Signature affordability promise.
Admission Team
✓
KEEP
Counselor connection = enrollment.
High School Students
✓
AUDIENCE
Route the six student types through one "Which student are you?" row + the homepage "For You" bar — not six separate menu lines.
Transfer Students
✓
AUDIENCE
International Students
✓
AUDIENCE
Veterans
✓
AUDIENCE
Graduate School
✓
AUDIENCE
Continuing Education (Adult)
✓
AUDIENCE
High School & Independent Counselors
MERGE
Near-duplicate of Admission Team path.
Proposed Admission menu
Apply · Request Info · Visit | Financial Aid (Costs · Tuition · How to Apply) · The Guilford Commitment · Admission Team
+ a single "Which student are you?" row: HS · Transfer · International · Veteran · Graduate · Adult.
4.3 Life at Guilford — 15 links → 6
Drop-down item
On hub?
Action
Why
Living and Eating (Housing + Dining)
✓
KEEP
Core residential-life task.
Health and Safety
KEEP
High-need.
The Arts
KEEP
Signature experience.
Sports / Athletics (external)
KEEP ↗
High interest; external site.
Student Media
✓
KEEP
Distinctive.
Calendar of Events
✓
QUICK-LINKS
Utility; already global + on hub.
Student Life (Google Site)
✓
HUB
Clubs/orgs live off-Drupal; feature on hub.
First-Gen at Guilford
HUB
Audience/support → hub.
Guilford Stories and Videos
HUB
Content collection → hub.
International Student Services
HUB
Support; also under Admission.
Commencement
FOOTER
Seasonal event.
Bookstore (external)
FOOTER
Retail system.
Faculty and Staff News
FOOTER
Wrong audience for this menu.
Title IX and Equal Opportunity
FOOTER
Compliance → global footer.
Student Life (duplicate entry)
✓
MERGE
Duplicate — one home per link.
4.4 Who We Are — 13 links → 7
Drop-down item
On hub?
Action
Why
History and Quaker Roots
✓
KEEP
Core identity.
Core Values
✓
KEEP
Core identity.
College Leadership
KEEP
Expected "about" item.
Facts and Figures
KEEP
High-intent for prospects / press.
Faculty & Staff Directory
KEEP ↗
High-traffic utility.
Social Responsibility
✓
KEEP
Signature commitment.
Guilford College Magazine
KEEP
Alumni / engagement.
Friends Center
✓
HUB
Sub-topic of Quaker identity.
Office of Transformation & Inclusion
HUB
Department → hub / directory.
Office of the Provost
FOOTER
Internal office.
Office of Communications & Marketing
FOOTER
Internal office.
Greater Greensboro Consortium
FOOTER
Niche partner.
Greensboro
MERGE
Fold into Facts / "the place".
5. Before / after at a glance
Section
Live drop-down
Proposed
Change
Academics
16
6
−10
Admission & Aid
13
7
−6
Life at Guilford
15
6
−9
Who We Are
13
7
−6
Total
57
≈ 26
≈ −55%
No content is removed from the site — demoted links remain on the hub page, in a hub "Quick links" strip, in the footer, or (for audiences) in the "For You" bar.
6. Proposed final top navigation
Here is the structure the four menus would house after the plan above — grouped, ~6–8 links each, audience paths routed through a single row, and systems / transactional pages moved to the footer or hub quick-links.
Moved out of the drop-downs — still one click away: Footer / quick-links — Registrar · Student Accounts · Library (Hege) · Calendar · Bookstore · Title IX · Office of the Provost · Communications & Marketing · Greater Greensboro Consortium · Commencement. On the hub pages — First-Year Experience · General Education · Honors Program · Summer School · Academic Resources · Accessibility Resource Center · Friends Center · Transformation & Inclusion · First-Gen · Stories & Videos. "For You" bar — the six Admission audiences (High School, Transfer, International, Veteran, Graduate, Adult).
The utility strip is unchanged (Current Students · Faculty & Staff · Alumni · Parents · Directory · Calendar · Give a Gift), and the global header actions — Apply · Give · Search — stay put.
7. Design principles to lock in
The menu is a shortcut; the hub is the index. If a link is prominently on the hub, it doesn't also need to be in the drop-down.
6–8 links per menu, grouped into 2–3 labeled clusters.
Owned pages in the nav; systems in quick-links/footer (catalog, athletics, bookstore, calendar, library).
Audiences are routed, not listed — one "For You" bar + one hub block, not six menu lines each.
One home per link. Kill duplicates & near-duplicates (two "Student Life", three financial-aid, two "High School").
Consistency across all four menus — same grouping pattern, same "See all →" hub link, same treatment for external ↗ links.
8. SEO — protecting rankings through the nav change
Consolidating the menus changes the site's internal-link graph, so the SEO work below runs in parallel with the build and ships before/with launch — not after. A nav change made without it risks orphaned pages and lost rankings on deep, high-value pages.
1 · Redirects (301s)
Removing a link from a menu needs no redirect — the page still lives at its URL. Redirects apply only where consolidation changes or merges a URL. Build a 301 map for: the merged financial-aid pages (Costs / Tuition / How-to-Apply → one Financial Aid parent, if URLs change); the duplicate "High School" and "Student Life" entries collapsing to one canonical URL; and the "Majors & Minors" → /program-finder canonicalization. Also fix the known /news canonical-index path flagged in the page-type inventory. External links (catalog, athletics, bookstore) get no redirect — they're not ours.
2 · Internal linking & orphan prevention
Fewer nav links means fewer sitewide internal links to demoted pages, which lowers their crawl priority and link equity. Mitigate: every demoted page keeps at least one internal link — from its hub page (contextual), the footer/quick-links, or a "See all →" index. Run an orphan audit after launch: zero demoted pages with no internal link. Never strip internal links from a top-traffic / top-ranking page (financial aid, majors, apply) without a compensating contextual link.
3 · XML sitemap & Search Console
Regenerate and resubmit the XML sitemap — demoted pages stay in it (they're not deleted). Submit any changed URLs, then monitor Coverage, Crawl Stats, and Performance for the demoted/deep pages for 4–6 weeks. A brief impressions dip on deep pages is normal; confirm they hold rankings via hub linking.
4 · Structured data & crawlable markup
Update SiteNavigationElement and BreadcrumbList structured data to the new structure, and confirm breadcrumbs still resolve for demoted pages. Keep every nav link a real, crawlable <a href> in the HTML (not JS-only) — the mega-menu and the "See all" hub links must expose the full crawl path in source.
5 · Measurement
Add event tracking to the new nav so click data validates the consolidation, and annotate the launch date in GA4. Compare pre/post organic traffic and rankings on the affected page set, and keep a rollback note for any page that loses position.
Sequencing: the SEO specialist finalizes the redirect map + internal-linking audit before the nav goes live, and the redirects ship with launch.
9. Decisions & dependencies for the client
Confirm the "keep" list per menu. The keeps above are our recommendation; the client owns final calls on ownership-sensitive items (e.g., which offices appear).
Validate against analytics. Pull GA on the current mega-menu links — low-click items are the easiest cuts; high-click items stay regardless of hub redundancy. (Depends on GA access.)
Confirm the Drupal menu model. Whether these are one menu or several, and whether "audience routing" is feasible in the current menu system.
Redirect plan. Any URL changes from consolidation go through the SEO specialist before launch (redirects + sitemap).
External-system inventory. Finalize which links are non-Drupal (→ Quick-links/footer + the T6 brand frame): catalog, athletics, bookstore, the Google-Sites student-life page.
Next step: on client sign-off of the "keep" lists, we mock the six-link grouped drop-downs into the redesign comps (Concept G / H) and hand the redirect map to SEO.