Considering site navigation options

[EugeneF]

I am working on a site redesign and re evaluating concepts I haven't thought about for a few years.

I generally see site navigation that is either "top-down" or "left bar".

Top down navigation normally uses the left nav. for search refinements.

The benefit of top nav. is that it clears up the center of the page for non navigation content.

The drawback is that you can't fit as many categories in a top nav.

Left side nav. can hold a long list of categories, but subcategories are often in the center of the page.

In the past, I have preferred to use left nav. with a multi level scroll over search refinement.  I believe this allowed users to get to their destination page with fewer clicks.  (I have always believed that every required additional click causes lost customers).  I also believe that this has caused me to get more juice flowing to deeper pages on sites and better long-tail conversion.  This means I have had pages with a LOT of links.

With this method, I have tightly controlled my categories.  What on other sites are often dynamic search refinements, are on my sites additional categories.

I am considering making a site with a top down navigation system.  I like the additional screen space in the center I get to work with.  Is my assumption about pages created by search refinement wrong?  Is it ok for SEO to have a left nav that has a bunch of search refinements that are dynamically created?

[ResslerMotors]

I'm personally really picky where I would allow my link juice to go from my strongest page (Home Page).  I would make sure to pass my link juice to the most important pages, and not waste it on any page that won't benefit the search engines or user right away.

When practiced, this would look like a menu bar with no drop downs, only links pointing to my important pages within content and only important links in the footer.  This not only funnels your visitors the way you want, but it also spreads the link juice the way you want.

Another reason to do what I had described is usability.  Although people manage to function well on most sites, it has been shown that fewer options leads to better results.  You don't want your visitors to have to debate on what's the best way to go, you just want them to click forward.

Anyway, here is my favorite navigation example: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/

I like how the refinement is under the menu, but this is just my own personal preference with no data/examples or anything backing it up.