When we talk about SEO, there is a lot to maintain.
Keywords, link- building, and in-depth content all impact your site to rank in the search engines.
Breadcrumbs are the navigation feature for the website that can have a great impact on the user experience and SEO.
Still, there are a lot of websites in the digital world that don’t implement breadcrumbs- which is a huge SEO mistake, not only because they impact SEO but also increase the bounce rate of your website.
You need to know about what breadcrumbs are, its impact on SEO, breadcrumbs tips with examples, and the common breadcrumbs mistakes to avoid.
What is breadcrumb navigation in SEO?
Breadcrumbs are a secondary navigation aid that allows users to track where they are on the website and how far they are from higher-level pages (a category or home page etc). The term breadcrumb is borrowed from the tale and Hansel and Gretel where the kids drop a trail to trace their way back.
If you reach a page that you don’t want to land on, breadcrumbs can help you find your way to go back by steps.
Breadcrumb navigation is not only an element of a website. If you are using windows, there is also a breadcrumb feature of windows file, folder, and drive location tracking in the hierarchy.
You can usually find them at the top of a website or under the menu navigation bar. Breadcrumbs help users keep on a website like internal linking and help them find the information they are looking for.
Here is the example of breadcrumbs of eblogtalk’s website:
It shows exactly where you are and how far you are from the main category. Breadcrumbs make it easy to go back to the previous page if you want to.
Breadcrumb is one of the factors of UX that make website navigation easier.
Recent changes in Google have made the breadcrumbs even more prime because they can impact SEO directly.
Here is how.
Google now reflects the breadcrumbs to categorize information in the search result pages. There is even a structured data report in the Google Search Console that will show you the error and valid URLs of them.
*Breadcrumbs help users navigate your website and help Google categorize and navigate your website. That makes breadcrumbs a primary factor for SEO.
3 Types of Breadcrumbs In Website Design
There are 3 types of breadcrumbs, each is not created equal as well as each with their own purpose.
Before adding breadcrumb to the website, figure out which one of the three breadcrumbs will be best for your website.
Location or Hierarchy Based Breadcrumbs
Hierarchy based breadcrumbs are the most common type of breadcrumbs that tell users where they are in the website structure and how to go back to the main category (higher-level page) from the page they are on.
For example: Home > Resources > SEO Guide
Consider someone searching for what is breadcrumb on Google, they find search results and land on eblogtalk website page. After reading this article, they want to explore more on the website. Now, how does the user go back to the SEO category?
With location or hierarchy based breadcrumbs the users can easily track where they are and very easily moved to the higher-level page without any problems.
Attribute-Based Breadcrumbs
Attribute-Based Breadcrumbs is used on e-commerce websites to show the user what attributes have selected on a page.
For example: Home > Shoes > Hiking > Women
Path or History-based breadcrumbs
Path or History-based breadcrumbs work similarly to browser history. This breadcrumb can be useful when the user has reached the product page after applying multiple filters. With the help of history-based breadcrumbs, it is very easy for users to jump on the previous pages in their search journey.
For example: Home > Article 1 > Article 2 > Current page
Benefits of using Breadcrumbs for SEO
If you are using the breadcrumbs or planning to use, what will breadcrumb actually do for your website?
Read the section below to be sure that breadcrumb is worthy of your website.
Breadcrumbs Improve UX (User Experience)
Breadcrumbs make it easier for users to navigate a website and also to browse other sections of the site.
For example, you want to learn more about eblogtalk.
You head to the website and end up on only one page.
Using the breadcrumbs, you can easily navigate back to the other section of the website, or even their home page.
Breadcrumb is a handy way to help users to go deep into the website without any hassle.
Improve Website Ranking
Breadcrumbs are great for user experience, and also they make Google happy.
According to Google, they use breadcrumbs to categorize and contextualize content.
In 2018, Google added breadcrumbs to the search results pages, making them even more important than ever.
Breadcrumbs in the search engine results pages also help users understand where that landing page is on the website.
Breadcrumbs are more useful for those websites that have several local pages like restaurants.
Keep Users Onsite Longer
We all know that the bounce rate is the indirect ranking factor, a high bounce rate is not good for the website health.
In addition, a high bounce rate symbolizes a bad user experience. And this problem can be solved by the breadcrumb.
Let, for example, you are looking for a dress on the Amazon website.
You find the dress, but the color is not very pretty. So, you want to look for another one. Using breadcrumbs, you can easily go back to the main category and select another dress of your choice.
That’s the power of the breadcrumb to keep the user on-site!
How to implement Breadcrumbs in WordPress CMS
Breadcrumbs are a very useful navigation element for both users and search engines- and they are easy to implement on your website.
Here are a few ways to add the breadcrumbs feature to your website.
Use Yoast SEO: If you already use Yoast, then adding breadcrumbs will only take a few steps. Simply log in and enable the breadcrumb under the SEO Yoast.
WooCommerce Breadcrumb Plugin: If you have an e-commerce website such as echoice that uses Woocommerce, enable the woocommerce breadcrumb, and enjoy the feature.
10 Recommended Practices for Using Breadcrumbs
Commonly, breadcrumbs appear in the horizontal line at top of the page from the higher level to the current page. Here is a list of 10 best practices of breadcrumbs navigation.
Show the whole path: A breadcrumb trail acts from the higher level to the current page the user is on.
Start with the home page: Including the homepage at the start of the breadcrumbs trail acts as a strong anchor as well as gives a strong sense of orientation to the users.
Use ‘>’ as Separator between Levels: The ‘>’ shows the relationship between higher-level pages and the lower-level pages. It always works best.
Put the breadcrumbs at the Top: Navigation bars are placed at the top of a website. The best way of breadcrumbs placement is below the main navigation bar and above the page title. Because it is very easy for users to notice at the top.
Show some Contrast: They occupy less space and are mostly text-based, contrast becoming a critical factor. Contrast helps the breadcrumbs stand out as an important functionality.
Use Small Type: Using a small type helps the users understand the difference between the primary navigation bar and the breadcrumbs.
Bold the last item: It tells the users where they are on the website.
Do not Hyperlink the Last Item: If you hyperlink the last item that means it leads to the same page? It may confuse the users.
Do not use Breadcrumbs on the homepage: It doesn’t make sense to have breadcrumbs on the home page because it is the page from where the user’s journey starts.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook. Share eblogtalk informational articles with your friends and on social media. Thank you.
