What is a breadcrumb in SEO?

Breadcrumbs are an essential element of a well-structured and user-friendly website, offering significant benefits for both users and search engine optimization (SEO). Let’s delve into what a breadcrumb is in SEO, its various types, importance, best practices, and more.

What is a Breadcrumb in SEO?

In the realm of website design and SEO, a breadcrumb is a secondary navigation scheme that reveals the user’s current location on a website. Think of it like the trail of breadcrumbs left by Hansel and Gretel in the classic fairy tale – it shows you the path you’ve taken to get to your current spot.

Typically displayed horizontally near the top of a webpage, above the main content, breadcrumbs provide a clear, clickable path back to higher-level pages. Each “crumb” in the trail represents a page in the website’s hierarchy, with the last crumb being the current page the user is viewing.

For example, a breadcrumb might look like this:

Home > Products > Electronics > Televisions > 4K UHD TV

This indicates the user started at the homepage, navigated to “Products,” then “Electronics,” then “Televisions,” and is currently viewing a page about a “4K UHD TV.”

Types of Breadcrumbs

While the core function remains the same, breadcrumbs can be implemented in a few different ways, each serving slightly different purposes:

Location-Based (Hierarchy) Breadcrumbs: These are the most common type and are based on the website’s hierarchical structure. They show the user where the current page fits within the site’s overall organisation, as seen in the example above. They are excellent for helping users understand the site’s layout.
Attribute-Based (Filter) Breadcrumbs: Often found on e-commerce websites, these breadcrumbs display the attributes or filters a user has applied to narrow down a search. For instance, if a user is Browse shoes and filters by “red,” “size 8,” and “running,” the breadcrumbs might look like:Home > Shoes > Red > Size 8 > RunningThese are particularly useful for users to see and modify their applied filters easily.
Path-Based (History) Breadcrumbs: Less common and sometimes debated for their usefulness, path-based breadcrumbs show the actual pages a user has visited to reach their current location. This is similar to a browser’s “back” button history. While they might seem helpful, they can become long and unwieldy, especially if a user has a complex Browse history. They are generally not recommended for SEO purposes due to their dynamic and potentially irrelevant nature for search engines.

Why are Breadcrumbs Important for SEO?

Breadcrumbs aren’t just a nicety; they play a significant role in improving a website’s SEO for several reasons:

Enhanced User Experience (UX):
- Improved Navigation: Breadcrumbs provide an intuitive and easy way for users to navigate back to previous categories or sections of a website without relying solely on the “back” button.
- Reduced Bounce Rate: By offering clear navigation, users are less likely to get lost or frustrated, leading to a lower bounce rate as they can easily explore related content.
- Better Site Understanding: They help users understand the structure of a website at a glance, making it easier to find what they’re looking for.
Improved Search Engine Crawling and Indexing:
- Clearer Site Structure for Bots: Search engine crawlers (like Googlebot) use breadcrumbs to understand the hierarchy and relationships between different pages on your site. This helps them effectively crawl and index your content.
- Internal Linking Signal: Each breadcrumb acts as an internal link, passing link equity (PageRank) to higher-level pages. This strengthens the authority of important category and sub-category pages.
- Contextual Understanding: Breadcrumbs provide additional contextual clues to search engines about the topic and relevance of a page within the overall website.
Better Search Engine Result Page (SERP) Appearance (Rich Snippets):
- Schema Markup Integration: When implemented with Schema.org markup (specifically BreadcrumbList schema), breadcrumbs can appear directly in the search results. Instead of a URL, Google may display your breadcrumb path, making your listing more informative and appealing.
- Increased Click-Through Rate (CTR): Rich snippets with breadcrumbs make your search listing stand out, providing users with more context before they even click. This can lead to a higher CTR, as users are more likely to click on a result that clearly shows them where they’ll land on your site.

Best Practices for Implementing Breadcrumbs

To maximise the SEO and UX benefits of breadcrumbs, follow these best practices:

Keep them Consistent: Place breadcrumbs in the same location (usually just below the header) on every page for predictability.
Use Them Appropriately: Breadcrumbs are most effective on websites with a deep, logical hierarchy (more than two levels deep). For shallow sites, they might be redundant.
Start with “Home”: Always begin the breadcrumb trail with “Home” or your website’s equivalent, linking back to the homepage.
Reflect Your Site Hierarchy: Ensure the breadcrumb path accurately reflects your website’s actual navigational structure.
Use Clear Separators: Use a consistent and easy-to-read separator between breadcrumbs (e.g., >, ›, or /).
Make Them Clickable: Every “crumb” in the trail, except the last one (the current page), should be a clickable link.
The Last Crumb is Not Linked: The current page in the breadcrumb trail should not be a clickable link, as the user is already on that page. It should also not be bolded or stand out too much from the rest of the text.
Use Full Page Titles (or Shortened Versions): The text for each breadcrumb should ideally be the exact title of the page it represents. If titles are very long, use a concise, descriptive version.
Implement Schema.org Markup: This is crucial for gaining rich snippets in search results. Use the BreadcrumbList schema to provide structured data to search engines. Many content management systems (CMS) and SEO plugins offer built-in functionality for this.
Mobile Responsiveness: Ensure your breadcrumbs are responsive and display well on all devices, including mobile phones and tablets. They should not take up too much screen space.
Accessibility: Ensure breadcrumbs are accessible to users with disabilities, using appropriate ARIA attributes if necessary.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Overuse on Shallow Sites: As mentioned, avoid using breadcrumbs on very shallow websites where they offer little benefit.
Incorrect Hierarchy: Do not create breadcrumbs that misrepresent your site’s actual structure. This can confuse users and search engines.
Broken Links: Ensure all links within the breadcrumb trail are functional and lead to the correct pages.
Too Many Crumb Levels: While a deep hierarchy can benefit from breadcrumbs, an excessively long breadcrumb trail can become unwieldy. Consider your site’s structure.
Not Using Schema Markup: Missing out on rich snippets means you’re leaving potential CTR on the table.
Using Breadcrumbs as Primary Navigation: Breadcrumbs are a secondary navigation tool. They should complement, not replace, your main navigation menu.

How to Implement Breadcrumbs

The implementation of breadcrumbs will vary depending on your website’s platform:

Content Management Systems (CMS):
- WordPress: Many popular themes (e.g., GeneratePress, Astra, OceanWP) have built-in breadcrumb functionality. SEO plugins like Yoast SEO or Rank Math also offer robust breadcrumb options with Schema markup.
- Shopify: Most Shopify themes include breadcrumbs. You might need to adjust settings or add code snippets if customisation is required.
- Joomla/Drupal: Similar to WordPress, these CMS platforms often have extensions or modules for breadcrumb implementation.
Custom-Built Websites: For custom-coded websites, you’ll need to manually implement breadcrumbs using HTML and often a server-side language (PHP, Python, Node.js, etc.) to dynamically generate the path based on the current page’s URL and site structure. Remember to manually add the Schema.org BreadcrumbList JSON-LD or Microdata.

Conclusion

Breadcrumbs are a small but mighty feature that can significantly impact your website’s user experience and SEO performance. By providing clear navigational cues for users and valuable structural information for search engines, they contribute to a more navigable, user-friendly, and discoverable website. Investing the time to implement them correctly, especially with Schema.org markup, will undoubtedly yield positive returns for your online presence.

What is a breadcrumb in SEO?