When we talk about SEO, there is a lot to maintain.
Keywords, content, and link- building all impact the website to rank on 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 have not breadcrumbs and it is a huge SEO mistake, not only they impact the SEO optimization but also increase the bounce rate of your website.
You have to understand all about what breadcrumbs are, its impact on SEO, breadcrumbs tips with examples, and the common breadcrumbs mistakes.
What is breadcrumb navigation in SEO?
Breadcrumbs are a secondary navigation aid that allows users to track themselves where they are on the site 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 find the breadcrumbs at the top of a site or under the menu navigation bar. Breadcrumbs help users keep on a website like internal linking.
Example of breadcrumbs from eblogtalk’s website:
It shows where you are and how far you are from the main category. They help users go back the the last visit page if you want to.
Breadcrumb is one of the factors of UX that make website navigation easier.
3 Types of Breadcrumbs In Website Design
Each type has its own purpose in the website.
Before adding breadcrumb to the website, find 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 breadcrumbs that inform users where are they in the website and how to go back to the main category (higher-level page) from the page they are on.
For example: Home > Resources > SMO
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.
Example: Home > Women > Cloth
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 several filters. With the help of this breadcrumbs, it is very easy for users to jump on the previous pages in their search journey.
For example: Home > Post 1 > Post 2 > Current page
SEO Breadcrumbs Benefits
If you are using the breadcrumbs or planning to use, what will breadcrumb actually do for your website?
Read below to be sure that breadcrumb is worthy of your website.
Breadcrumbs Improve UX (User Experience)
It makes easy for users to navigate a website and also browse other sections of the website.
Example, If you want to know more about eblogtalk.
You land on 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 easy way to help users to go deep into the website without any hassle.
Improve Website Ranking
It is good for user experience.
Breadcrumbs is used to contextual linking and also categorize the content.
Breadcrumbs in the search engine results pages help users to know where the landing page is on the website.
Breadcrumbs are more useful for those websites that have various local pages such as 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. You can easily go back to the main category and select another dress of your choice by clicking on the breadcrumbs.
It is the power of the breadcrumb to keep the user on-site!
How do you add Breadcrumbs in WordPress CMS?
Breadcrumbs are a navigation element which is beneficial for both users and search engines- and they are easy to implement on your website.
Some of the ways to add this feature to your website.
Use Yoast SEO: If your website already have Yoast plugin then adding the breadcrumbs will be very easy with a few steps. Simply log in and enable the breadcrumb under the SEO Yoast.
WooCommerce Breadcrumb Plugin: If any user as e-commerce website such as couponrocks.in that uses Woocommerce, then 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. Below is the 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 lower and higher-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 page: 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.
