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Breadcrumbs are a crucial navigation tool in web design and user experience. Breadcrumbs contribute to making the website more usable, and they are also crucial for SEO. In this blog post, we will examine what breadcrumbs are, types of breadcrumbs, why breadcrumbs are useful for SEO, and how best to utilize them.
What Are Breadcrumbs?
Breadcrumbs are a kind of second navigation scheme that shows users where they are within a website or web app. You will typically see breadcrumbs at the top of a webpage, which allows you to see a pathway back to the first page you landed on. The term 'breadcrumb' comes from the story of Hansel and Gretel, where the two characters left behind a trail of breadcrumbs so they could find their way back home.
Example of Breadcrumbs
An example of one breadcrumb trail could be:
Home > Products > Electronics > Mobile Phones
In this case, each word of the breadcrumb is a clickable link back to the designated page. That gives the user quick context of where he/she currently reside within the site hierarchy.
Types of Breadcrumbs
Breadcrumbs can be categorized into three main types:
1. Location-Based Breadcrumbs
Description: These breadcrumbs indicate the user's current location within the site hierarchy.
Example: A user navigating through an online bookstore might see a breadcrumb trail like "Home > Books > Fiction > Mystery."
2. Attribute-Based Breadcrumbs
Description: These breadcrumbs display the attributes or filters applied by the user during their search.
Example: In an e-commerce store, a breadcrumb might look like "Home > Shoes > Athletic > Size 10 > Color: Red."
3. History-Based Breadcrumbs
Description: These breadcrumbs show the user's previous pages visited, allowing them to retrace their steps.
Example: If a user has navigated through various categories, the breadcrumb may show "Home > Shoes > Sandals > Flip-Flops."
Why Are Breadcrumbs Important for SEO?
Breadcrumbs serve a variety of important functions that contribute to the success of a website as a whole, and more specifically, as it relates to SEO. Below are some of the most beneficial reasons for implementing breadcrumbs:
1. Improved User Experience
- Easier Navigation: Breadcrumbs are beneficial to your users because they give them a clear indicator of where they are on the website. This sort of insurance makes navigation back to the previous category or page easier and less frustrating for users. This increases user experience and satisfaction.
- Lower Bounce Rate: Allowing users easy navigation around your site increases the likelihood they do not "bounce” and leave, potentially after just viewing a single page, decreasing your bounce rate. Bounce rate is an important metric for search engines to assess your website's user experience.
2. Better Site Structure
- Hierarchy: Breadcrumbs help to demonstrate a hierarchy on your site; essentially, a structured relationship between all of a page's tiered levels. A clear designated site hierarchy allows search engines to understand the relationships among the various pages and can help improve indexation and ultimately ranking signals.
- Relevancy: Breadcrumbs help search engine crawlers assess relevancy for pages in relation to their categories and subcategories. This can result in a better ranking for specific keywords.
3. Better Visibility in SERPs
- Rich Snippets: Search engines like Google may include breadcrumbs as part of the rich snippets in the search results. This improves the SEO value of your website, in addition to improving CTR.
- Attractive Listing: When a page is listed in the SERPs with breadcrumbs, it gives users an impression of the page's contents that could increase the attractiveness of that listing to users and therefore increase the CTR.
4. Internal Linking
- Link Equity: Breadcrumbs count as internal links and thereby distribute link equity throughout the site. Therefore, this may help less prominent pages achieve more authority.
- Exploration: Breadcrumbs, by indicating where the user is in relation to other similar pages, provides for easy access to other pages on the site, which is a tool for increasing engagement and time spent on the website.
5. Mobile Usability
- Responsive Webpage: One benefit of breadcrumbs is that they are a small navigational device that is easily adapted for mobile users. They give the user a smaller navigational device that keeps a smaller useful footprint. This enhances the usability on smaller devices, and this is vital for SEO.
Best Practices for Implementing Breadcrumbs
To maximize the benefits of breadcrumbs for SEO, consider the following best practices:
1. Use Clear and Descriptive Text
Descriptive Labels: Ensure that breadcrumb links use clear and descriptive text that accurately reflects the content of the pages they link to. This helps both users and search engines understand the site structure.
2. Maintain Consistency
Uniform Structure: Keep the breadcrumb structure consistent across all pages. This helps users understand the navigation system and reinforces the site’s hierarchy.
3. Implement Schema Markup
Structured Data: Use schema markup for breadcrumbs to help search engines understand their context. This can enhance the visibility of breadcrumbs in search results.
Here's an example of how to implement breadcrumb schema in JSON-LD format:
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "BreadcrumbList",
"itemListElement": [
{
"@type": "ListItem",
"position": 1,
"name": "Home",
"item": "https://www.example.com/"
},
{
"@type": "ListItem",
"position": 2,
"name": "Products",
"item": "https://www.example.com/products"
},
{
"@type": "ListItem",
"position": 3,
"name": "Electronics",
"item": "https://www.example.com/products/electronics"
},
{
"@type": "ListItem",
"position": 4,
"name": "Mobile Phones",
"item": "https://www.example.com/products/electronics/mobile-phones"
}
]
}
4. Minimise Levels
Don’t go too many levels deep: Keep your breadcrumb trail simple and be no more than four levels deep. Every level you add, users will feel more lost, and breadcrumbs will be less helpful.
5. Clickable
Clickable: Ensure that all parts of the breadcrumbs are clickable links to backtrack to any previous page.
6. Test for Working Links
Test, Test: Keep testing breadcrumbs to ensure they function correctly, and users end up on the right page. If links take users to incorrect pages, they will be frustrated, and it will impact SEO.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
When implementing breadcrumbs, keep these common issues in mind:
1. Non-Clickable Breadcrumbs
Make sure that every part of the breadcrumb is clickable. Not having clickable breadcrumbs can confuse users and lead to poor usability.
2. Complicated Structure
Don't get overly complicated with your breadcrumb structure. Keep it simple and effective.
3. Not Mobile-Friendly
Test breadcrumbs on mobile to ensure they are functional and usable. Poor mobile usability can hurt your site's SEO.
4. Not Using Schema Markup
Not using schema markup means you're missing out on some opportunities for visibility in SERPs overall.
Breadcrumbs are an essential part of your web design and SEO strategy. They add usability for your users, appease authority by giving you a site structure, and can contribute to visibility in SERPs. By using best practices and avoiding common mistakes, your breadcrumb implementation will help you develop more usability and SEO as you begin to optimize your site for search engines.
Using breadcrumbs is never only about usability navigation. Properly using breadcrumbs contributes to the SEO strategy across your entire website while improving user experiences. As search engines become more sophisticated, user experiences matter more and more for your website's rank and organic traffic.