Breadcrumb is a set of links that help users determine their current position in the website structure. For websites with a complex structure or containing a lot of content, Breadcrumb Navigation is an effective tool to help users easily locate and navigate between pages. However, currently not many SEOers and Marketers pay attention to this feature along with many new people who do not know about Breadcrumbs. Right in this article, Optimal Agency will help you better understand Breadcrumbs, how to use Breadcrumb, and common types of Breadcrumbs. Let’s start now!
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Some things to know about Breadcrumb
Breadcrumb is an important navigation tool on the website, helping users easily determine their position in the page structure. Usually appearing as a series of links, breadcrumb shows the path from the home page to the current page, helping users follow and navigate through different levels of the website. A typical example of a breadcrumb might be: “Home > Mobile > iPhone 13 > iPhone 13 Pro Max”. According to the definition of Schema.org:
“Breadcrumb is a set of links that help users understand and navigate the hierarchy of a website.”
The role of breadcrumb in improving user experience and optimizing SEO is important. In terms of user experience, breadcrumbs make it easy for users to return to previous pages, making it easier to navigate through different sections of a website. This is especially useful for websites with complex structures, helping to reduce bounce rates. In terms of SEO, breadcrumbs provide additional context to the website content, helping search engines better understand the structure of the page and its content. By providing internal links, breadcrumbs help search engines index content more efficiently, thereby improving the website’s ranking on search results pages.
Types of Breadcrumbs
A Technical Perspective on Breadcrumbs
When considering the applicability of Breadcrumbs in a website system, it is important to understand the technical difference between site structure and URL structure. These insights will help you make informed decisions about how to implement Breadcrumbs effectively.
Breadcrumb Trail: Consistent or Inconsistent?
When implementing Breadcrumbs, you can choose between a Consistent Breadcrumb Trail or an Inconsistent Breadcrumb Trail.
- Consistent Breadcrumb Trail: This is a type of Breadcrumb that does not “jump” or break. Each time a user clicks on a link that leads to a deeper level of content, the Breadcrumbs will automatically update to reflect that change. For example, if a user starts on the “Kitchen” page and clicks on a link to the “Dining Table” page, the Breadcrumbs will display Homepage / Furniture / Kitchen / Dining Table.
- Inconsistent Breadcrumb Trail: In contrast, an inconsistent Breadcrumb Trail often results in a disconnect between the links and the current content. For example, when a user clicks on “Dining Table” from the “Kitchen” page, the Breadcrumb Trail may redirect to Homepage / Products / Wooden Dining Table, which does not accurately reflect the user’s current location.
One URL or Multiple URLs for Products and Categories?
When designing the URL structure for Breadcrumbs, you must decide between using a single URL for each product or multiple URLs for categories:
- One URL: Using a single URL for a product helps avoid duplicate content issues. However, this can lead to inconsistent Breadcrumbs if not implemented wisely. For example: http://example.com/product/wooden-dining-table.
- Multiple URLs for Category: Having multiple URLs for a product can create duplicate content issues. To fix this, you should define a default URL version and use the rel=canonical tag to specify the canonical URL. For example:
- Category-URL: http://example.com/noi-that/phong-an/ or http://example.com/noi-that/ban-an/
- Product-URL: http://example.com/noi-that/phong-an/ban-an-go or http://example.com/noi-that/ban-an/ban-an-go
User Path and Breadcrumb Trail: Consistency
An important element in implementing Breadcrumbs is the consistency between the User Path and the Breadcrumb Trail. To create a consistent user experience, the Breadcrumb Trail needs to reflect the path the user has taken accurately:
- User Path example: If a user starts from the home page, selects “Kitchen”, then goes to “Featured Items” and selects “Wooden Dining Table”, the Breadcrumbs should display: Homepage / Kitchen / Featured Items / Wooden Dining Table. If a user uses the filter for “Best Dining Tables” and selects a product, the Breadcrumbs will display Homepage / Kitchen / Best Dining Tables / Wooden Dining Tables.
Ensuring that the Breadcrumb Trail accurately reflects the User Path will help improve the user experience and optimize SEO, as search engines also appreciate consistency and a clear structure.
In short, understanding and implementing Breadcrumbs thoroughly from a technical perspective will help you optimize your page and URL structure, enhance user experience, and improve SEO performance. In the next section, we will explore the conceptual differences in Breadcrumbs, an important factor when implementing Breadcrumbs for any platform.
Why should you use Breadcrumb to optimize your website’s SEO?
Although many websites today have evolved from simple structures to complex classification systems with multiple layers of content, using Breadcrumbs is still an effective way to improve user experience and optimize SEO. This is an important navigation tool, especially for large-scale websites, bringing many significant benefits.
Help readers visualize their location on the website: When accessing a website with a complex structure, the Breadcrumbs bar helps users quickly recognize their location in the entire site system. For example, when you are on a specific product page in an online store, the breadcrumb may appear as “Home > Products > Shirts”. This not only helps users easily recognize where they are but also allows them to easily navigate to other content sections without having to search from the beginning.
Provide quick links to higher-level categories: Breadcrumbs also provide a convenient way for users to navigate back to higher-level categories. For example, suppose you are viewing a specific product on a clothing website and want to go back to see all types of shirts. In that case, breadcrumbs will allow you to click on the “Shirts” link to see all other shirt products such as polos, tees, hoodies, without having to go back to the home page or perform a new search.
Reduce Bounce Rate: One of the key benefits of Breadcrumbs is reducing bounce rates. When users can easily find links to other parts of the website, they tend to stay longer and explore more content. This not only improves user experience but also reduces bounce rates, which is the percentage of users who leave the website without interacting further.
Positive impact on Google: Breadcrumbs improve user experience and have significant SEO benefits. Google appreciates websites that use Breadcrumbs properly. When you declare structured data for Breadcrumbs, you can see them displayed as Rich Snippets in Google search results. Applying Schema Markup to Breadcrumbs helps Google better understand the structure of the website and can positively affect the website’s ranking in search results.
In short, Breadcrumbs are not only a useful navigation tool for users but also play an important role in SEO optimization. Implementing Breadcrumbs correctly and properly will bring long-term benefits to your website, improve user experience, and increase search efficiency on Google.
Readers, please learn some other related information such as how to build a PBN.
How to use Breadcrumb effectively
Although Breadcrumbs brings many significant benefits to SEO and website development, if not used properly, you may miss the opportunity to maximize the effectiveness of Breadcrumbs. To avoid mistakes in implementing Breadcrumbs, you should pay attention to the following optimization principles:
Design Breadcrumbs to improve the navigation experience on the website
When creating Breadcrumbs, the most important factor that you need to put first is the benefit of the user. Breadcrumbs should be designed to improve the navigation experience on the website, making it easy for users to determine their location and return to previous pages if needed. Overusing navigation tags or stuffing keywords not only reduces the aesthetics of the website but can also hurt the user experience. This can lead to user frustration, increased bounce rate, and reduced traffic, negatively affecting the overall performance of the website.
Place Breadcrumbs at the top of the page
The location of Breadcrumbs is also an important factor in determining its effectiveness. Typically, Breadcrumbs are placed at the top of the page, right above the title or below the top navigation bar. This is the ideal location because it is easy to see and convenient for users to click on to navigate. Placing Breadcrumbs in this strategic location not only makes it easy for users to recognize and use but also enhances the browsing experience, keeping users on the page longer.
Design Breadcrumbs appropriately
The design of Breadcrumbs needs to be reasonable and compatible with the overall website. An ideal Breadcrumbs should not take up too much space or be so prominent that users only focus on the navigation card and ignore other important elements such as the top menu or page title. Breadcrumbs should be optimized to be large enough for users to read and use easily, but not so large that they create a visual imbalance on the page.
In addition, avoid inserting navigation links to the page they are viewing. Instead, when users are at a specific location, highlight it by writing and bolding the heading so that they know where they are on the website. This makes Breadcrumbs more intuitive and avoids confusing users.
Breadcrumbs cannot replace the main navigation and top menu
Breadcrumbs are essentially a secondary navigation system, designed to help users know where they are on the website. However, this does not mean that Breadcrumbs can completely replace the main navigation or top menu. Main navigation and top menu play an important role in providing links to other important parts of the website, helping users navigate more comprehensively.
Therefore, although Breadcrumbs is a useful tool for improving user experience and supporting SEO, you should not ignore building a complete and attractive main navigation or top menu system. The harmonious combination of Breadcrumbs and main navigation will help create a user-friendly website and optimize SEO performance while ensuring that users can easily navigate and search for information quickly and effectively.
In the above article, Optimal Agency has brought you a lot of useful information. Hopefully, the new knowledge we share will help you equip yourself with more useful things. If you have any questions or questions that need to be answered, do not hesitate to contact Optimal Agency immediately for quick support and free consultation!
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Frequently asked questions
When using Breadcrumbs, there are some important notes that you need to remember to ensure optimal efficiency. First, Breadcrumbs should be designed with users in mind, helping them to navigate and understand their position on the website. Avoid using too many Breadcrumbs or stuffing keywords, as this can reduce the user experience and cause confusion. The location of Breadcrumbs should also be reasonable, usually at the top of the page, below the main navigation bar, making it easy for users to access. Finally, Breadcrumbs should complement the main navigation or top menu, not replace them, to ensure users can better navigate throughout the website.
Breadcrumb Navigation, also known as breadcrumb navigation, is a user interface element that helps website visitors easily track their current position in the structure of the website. It displays a series of links from the home page to the page the user is viewing, giving them an overview of their browsing journey. This not only improves the user experience but also helps boost the SEO of the site, by providing clear and accessible paths for both users and search engines.
