How to Rename Website Nav Labels so People Find Things

Anyone lost in their own header can rename website nav labels so people find things in one sitting: translate each item into an "I need to" job, cap the bar at five to seven words people already say, then cut the clever nouns. Run it in ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini before you ship another "Solutions" that means nothing.

A nav label is a door. A door that says "Resources" is a hallway. If a stranger cannot predict the next page from the word, the label failed, no matter how on-brand it sounds.

Sitelinks and answer engines reuse nav text as a map. Labels that match jobs become paths. Labels that match your org chart become noise.

This loop is a skill, not a rebrand. If you are still pasting "improve our IA" into a blank chat, read what a skill prompt actually is and save the card at the end.

Rename website nav labels in five steps

Jobs first. Words second. The bar last.

1. List current labels and the jobs behind them

Paste the current top nav, in order. Next to each item, write the job a visitor is trying to finish, in their words. "See what it costs." "Talk to a person." "Prove it works."

Instruct ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini: "Do not rename yet. For each label, restate the job as I need to + verb. If you cannot infer a job from the label, mark UNKNOWN. Do not invent a new destination."

"Platform" with no job is a confession.

If the notes are a pile of stakeholder opinions, shape them like a messy note into a one-page brief before you touch the header.

2. Ban clever nouns and internal names

Paste this list:

solutions, resources, insights, hub, enablement, ecosystem, offerings, fuel, magic, plus any internal product code names customers do not search.

Tell the model: "If a candidate label is on this list, discard it. Do not swap in a synonym that is still jargon. Use the verb from the job, or the noun a customer already typed."

Synonym swaps are how "Solutions" becomes "Offerings" and nobody finds pricing.

3. Test each label as an answer to "I need to…"

Now ask for names. Hard rules:

• One or two words.
• A noun the customer already used, or a verb plus object if one word lies.
• Five to seven top-level items. Merge leftovers.
• Order by job frequency, not by your pride in the story page.

Instruct: "Propose one label per job. Then propose a merge map for anything over seven. Do not add a new item I did not list. Do not keep a label that fails the I-need-to test."

Example passes: Pricing, Guides, Library, Tools, News. Example fails: Accelerate, Studio, Blueprints.

Plain labels name the job, not the vibe. Compare the Promptcrates how-to guides index if you need a live example.

4. Generate two maps, pick one, do not blend

Ask for two full bars that share the same destinations and the same cap, but change only the words.

Pick one map. Do not take Pricing from map A and Insights from map B. Blended bars have no system. They have a committee.

Cut a "Get started" that is really a second Home. Kill parentheticals. An eighth item "if we have room" is not room.

5. One human pass with a stranger

Show the bar, not the sitemap, to someone who does not work on the site. Ask them to point to where they would find a guide, price, or contact. If they hesitate, the label failed.

Kill:

• A noun that needs a hover to explain.
• Two items that open the same job.
• A logo word used as a menu.

Fix those in your own words. One pass. Then stop. Save the job-to-label loop with the Promptcrates tools for reusable website skills so the next campaign cannot sneak "Unleash" into the header.

Reusable skill card

Trigger: People keep asking where something lives, or analytics show they open three nav items to finish one job.

Input: The current top nav in order, one I-need-to job per item, a five-to-seven cap, plus your banned jargon list.

Output: Two full bars, one or two words per label, merge map for overflow, UNKNOWN where a job is missing, no new destinations.

Stop: After one stranger points to three jobs without hovering. No blending. No eighth item. No icon-only labels.

Takeaways

• A nav label is a door. If a stranger cannot predict the page, rename it.
• Jobs first. Jargon last. Ban Solutions and Resources by default.
• Five to seven items. One or two words. Merge by job, not by committee.
• Plain words become sitelinks. Save the loop. The next campaign will try to rebrand the doors.