As you scroll through any site, you notice the term "breadcrumbs" displayed at the top of any given page in a format such as Home > Products > Shoes. Breadcrumbs are very elementary but are relatively used more. We explain here what breadcrumbs are and their relevance in SEO.
What Are Breadcrumbs?
Breadcrumbs is one of the forms of organizing complex or multi-level websites. Breadcrumbs indicate which site the user is working on. The breadcrumbs appear as a tree of pages, and most of the times, the topmost link would be the home page, along with a list of pages displaying links from the topmost to the currently clicked one.
For example, if a customer was shopping on the internet, their breadcrumbs would be:
Home > Electronics > Mobile Phones > iPhone 12
In the last example, "Home" was from where you came and the thing you see is "iPhone 12." Breadcrumbs represent how many steps it took you to reach that page. There are three types of breadcrumbs:
Location-based Breadcrumbs: Location-based Breadcrumbs indicate where you are at the website and function like a navigator, offering a detailed view of where you are. Make sure you write down the variation of all the three types.
Attribute-based Breadcrumbs: Attribute-based Breadcrumbs show categories or sub-divisions done for filtering the information you have further.
Path-based Breadcrumbs: Path-based Breadcrumbs indicate the order of websites or web pages that were opened in order to land on the present webpage.
Why are breadcrumbs relevant to SEO?
Like every other tool, breadcrumbs serve their purpose. In this case, it is for SEO. So, let's discuss their importance further:
Enhanced User Engagement: The breadcrumb aims to make site navigation easy. If a user gets stuck or wants to return to a page, they can swiftly use the breadcrumbs to relocate themselves. It ensures user satisfaction, increasing their chances of retention on the website. Therefore, when users spend more time on the site, it may lead to a higher site ranking.
Aides Crawlers in Grasping the Site: Another essential function of breadcrumbs is that they help search engines and crawlers understand how a website is structured. Google, for instance, uses data to index the page accurately, increasing the chances of bid ranking. Thus, it becomes easier for search engines to crawl the site.
Boosts Click-Through Rates: Some search results are more appealing and organized than others, hence having a better CTR. Branded breadcrumbs are standard in Google.
Home > Products > Shoes: It is more organized and easy to use than the plain URL: www.example.com/shoes. The breadcrumbs of your search also influence how many people click through to your website.
Decrease Bounce Rate: It decreases the bounce rate and helps to reduce the percentage of people who land on a site but leave without visiting another page. Breadcrumbs give users a second entrance into other parts of the site and further reduce the percentage. The more time visitors spend on your site, the more you prove to the search engines that visitors find your site valuable, and therefore, you achieve higher rankings.
Better for Mobile Users: Breadcrumbs also can be advantageous to mobile users. Screens are generally smaller on a mobile device, and users need things quickly. If users could find something faster, they would likely stay on your website longer.
Enhanced Rich Snippets: Rich snippets are information that appears in search results. As breadcrumbs can also serve, they can be portrayed as rich snippets. It helps to differentiate your site in search results, leading to more traffic and higher positions in search engines.
How Breadcrumbs Help SEO
Now that we know the uses of breadcrumbs, let's proceed with their application in an overall SEO approach.
Site Structure and Crawlability: Google, like any other search engine, relies on crawlers of bots for crawling websites and getting a sense of its structure. Breadcrumbs show the hierarchy of pages in a website, and thus, it can be indexed more effectively by search engines.
Internal Linking: Breadcrumbs are internal links through which one-page links to another content-related page. Internal links in a site are important for SEO because they increase the likelihood that search engines can find and index pages. They promote a network that relates to each other on your website.
Keyword Usage: It is in common practice to include the keywords within the crumbs of a page to improve SEO rank. Keywords included into the breadcrumbs allow search engines to categorize the page better and therefore imply a better ranking for the relevant searches.
Clear Hierarchy: The website, using breadcrumbs, displays the entire hierarchy of content. It is obvious how content is structured both for users and search engines. If search engines recognize this, the site would be ranked much better because it is easy to navigate.
Boosts Local SEO: Breadcrumbs can also be helpful in local SEO, especially if your business is local. Using location-related keywords in the breadcrumb links will give your business a higher chance of showing up in local searches.
Adding Breadcrumbs to Your Website
Adding breadcrumbs to your website shouldn't be difficult. Follow these simple steps:
Adding a plugin: In WordPress, if you desire to add breadcrumbs to your website, you needn't do anything manually. There are many such plugins available. Many top-rated plugins are "Yoast SEO" and "Breadcrumb NavXT."
Hands-on Coding: Otherwise, you can manually add breadcrumbs to your website through coding skills, where you can make changes yourself or hire a web developer for that. Using structured data, such as Schema.org, helps mark your website's breadcrumbs so search engines can understand better what you placed there.
Verifying Your Breadcrumbs: After adding breadcrumbs, test them. Using Google's Structured Data Testing Tool should ensure that the breadcrumbs are correctly acknowledged within the system.
Conclusion
Breadcrumbs are the most minor feature on the list but are highly important for a website. Breadcrumbs are very useful for navigation on sites, especially by users. Breadcrumbs help any individual navigate through the site without much trouble.
Their usage is highly significant in SEO. Through better user experience, efficient site crawling, and high traffic on the site, breadcrumbs support your website ranking better.
Implementing breadcrumbs is the easiest and most effective way to enhance a website's ranking in a search engine. Breadcrumbs enhance users' experiences and increase a website's chances of ranking.
We at Kriti Digital Solutions will provide you with complete information on how to enhance your website through breadcrumbs and other multiple SEO techniques. Our websites perform better through undivided SEO services, so let's start growing your website today.