What are breadcrumbs?
Breadcrumbs are a navigation aid whose name is borrowed from the fairy tale “Hansel and Gretel”, in which breadcrumbs mark the way. On the web, Breadcrumbs users display their current location within the website structure and allow easy return to parent pages.
Types of breadcrumbs
- Hierarchical breadcrumbs: Show the position of a page within the site hierarchy, for example “Home > Clothing > Women’s Fashion > Summer Dresses”.
- Attribute-based breadcrumbs: Often used in online shops to display product attributes, for example “Cars > Brand > BMW > Model year 2020 > Red”.
- Path based breadcrumbs: Map the actual click path of a user, for example “Home > Search results > Selected category > Product page”.
Benefits
Improved user experienceBreadcrumbs facilitate orientation and can contribute to longer dwell times and a higher conversion rate.
SEO optimizationBreadcrumbs help search engine crawlers understand page structure and internal linking. Through structured data, they can also appear in the search results and improve the click-through rate.
Reduction of bounce rateAlternative navigation paths reduce the likelihood that users will leave the site without further interaction.
User behaviour analysisBreadcrumbs enable path analyses that allow conclusions to be drawn about the navigation behavior of visitors.
Best practices
- Keep navigation clear and avoid too many sub-levels.
- Breadcrumbs are visually visible and distinguishable from other navigation elements.
- Use structured data (Schema.org) for better readability for search engines.
- Ensure mobile display.
- Check functionality regularly in different browsers and on different devices.
Conclusion
Breadcrumbs improve both the usability and the SEO performance of a website and should be used in the website structure.