Forget best practice!
Don’t blindly copy the ideas of other websites. What works elsewhere can backfire on you. The user experience of your target customer is crucial. What young people find cool may drive others crazy. Not every user is adept at using a touchscreen. And not everyone has eagle eyes like the 20-year-old designer.
Offer alternatives!
It’s always better to have different options for getting from A to B. This is also true in UX design. So offer users two to three navigation options. Then they can decide for themselves. Then measure which one he uses. What is not used, may then disappear again to minimize unnecessary distraction.
Consider the user journey!
As with the creation of the information architecture, still, orient yourself on the typical user journeys. Which paths does the user take most of the time? Which paths should the user take to reach his goal without detours? Web analytics and heat maps show you where the bottlenecks are.
A good link structure has a positive effect on the user experience. As long as it is oriented towards the wishes and needs of your target customers. The result is noticeably more conversions.