Websites can have complex hierarchical structures. Making this structure easy to grasp for users and search engines is crucial for the functionality and SEO performance of websites. Here, “breadcrumb,” meaning “breadcrumb trail,” comes into play.
Why Should Breadcrumb be Used?
Breadcrumb is a simple tool that can enhance the performance of your website in many ways by providing valuable information about your site to users and search engines. Similar to Hansel and Gretel’s journey, breadcrumb helps your users not to get lost on your site and easily find what they’re looking for, thus contributing to a better website experience.
Because breadcrumb is a technical SEO criterion, it’s a crucial technical detail that individuals seeking to improve their website’s performance and increase traffic should definitely consider.
Breadcrumb and its Relationship with SEO
Breadcrumb is a navigation tool that visualizes where users are on a website and how far they are from the homepage. Just like the breadcrumb trail in the tale of Hansel and Gretel helps them find their way home, breadcrumb helps users navigate through the site easily and quickly find the pages they are looking for.
- It Assists Search Engines: Breadcrumb helps search engines understand the hierarchical structure of your site and which pages are most important, which can improve your site’s rankings in search results.
- Increases User Click-Through Rates: By helping users find the pages they are looking for more quickly, breadcrumb increases click-through rates (CTR).
- Improves Site Usability: By preventing users from getting lost on the site, breadcrumb improves the usability of your site.
Considering all these benefits, the goal is to have users spend more time on the site and visit more pages, which positively impacts SEO metrics such as user interaction and bounce rate.
The Importance of Breadcrumb Schema in SEO
Considering breadcrumb solely as a visual navigation tool is not accurate. It also serves as a schema tool that helps search engines understand the hierarchical structure of your website.
- Use the Correct Schema: Use the standards defined by Schema.org for breadcrumb schema.
- Validate the Schema Structure: Ensure that search engines correctly interpret the breadcrumb schema.
- Keep Schema Data Up to Date: Ensure that the information in breadcrumb schemas is up to date.
Google and other search engines use breadcrumb schemas to understand which pages on your site are connected and which pages are the most important, which can affect your site’s rankings in search results.
Relationship with User Experience (UX)
Breadcrumb is important not only for SEO but also for user experience (UX). Making it easy for users to find the pages they are looking for without getting lost on the site is crucial for UX. Breadcrumb provides great convenience to users in this regard.
Planning breadcrumb navigation contributes significantly to the UX aspect of SEO. Presenting easy navigation and hierarchical structure with breadcrumb enables visitors to reach the desired page and information more quickly.
Additionally, providing a good breadcrumb experience to your visitors can have sales-enhancing effects, especially for e-commerce sites. It positively affects customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Furthermore, the use of breadcrumb encourages visitors to explore other pages on your site, which can positively impact metrics such as page views and click-through rates, among others.
Breadcrumb Optimization for SEO
Optimizing the breadcrumb area for SEO significantly improves your site’s rankings in search results and user experience (UX). Here are a few points to consider when optimizing the breadcrumb area for SEO:
- Use breadcrumb structure on all pages of your site.
- Use accurate and up-to-date information in the breadcrumb area.
- Design the breadcrumb area in a user-friendly manner.
- Make the breadcrumb structure readable by search engines.
- Ensure there are no visibility issues with breadcrumb on mobile designs.
In addition to these, for regularly updated websites, periodically review and update the content and schema structures of your site. Keeping the content current and accurate can provide more benefits to users and improve SEO performance.
The Most Common 3 Mistakes Made in Breadcrumb Structures
Despite offering numerous benefits, poorly designed breadcrumb hierarchies can emphasize a website’s indifference to users. If you’re considering integrating breadcrumb solely for SEO purposes and neglecting user experience, this is likely one of the biggest mistakes within your site’s user experience.
Missing or Incorrect Information
Using missing or incorrect information in the breadcrumb area can confuse users and negatively impact SEO performance.
Non-User-Friendly Design
Difficult-to-read and understand breadcrumb areas can negatively affect the user experience.
Unreadable Coding by Search Engines
Breadcrumb structures that cannot be read by search engines can negatively impact SEO performance. Correct and clean coding infrastructure is important.
Inconsistency
Not using the same breadcrumb format on all pages can confuse users.
Not Being Mobile-Friendly
Not ensuring that breadcrumb structures are displayed correctly on mobile devices can negatively impact the mobile user experience.
In general, avoid breadcrumb practices that involve missing or incorrect information, non-user-friendly designs, or breadcrumb implementations that are only focused on desktop design and not properly coded with a robust software infrastructure.
Breadcrumb Schema for Corporate Websites
Breadcrumb schemas for corporate websites should clearly display the hierarchical structure of the site. For example, on a product page, the breadcrumb could be structured as follows:
- Home > Product Category > Subcategory > Product
Breadcrumb structures for corporate websites play an important role not only in facilitating user navigation on your site but also in SEO. If your content is dynamically changing, don’t forget to dynamically update breadcrumb areas as well.
Breadcrumb Schema for E-commerce Sites
Breadcrumb schemas for e-commerce sites should enable users to easily access products. For example, on a product page, structuring the breadcrumb as follows would not be wrong:
- Home > Main Category > Subcategory > Brand > Product
Breadcrumb areas for e-commerce sites are a significant factor in improving the online shopping experience for users and enhancing SEO performance.
It should be noted that breadcrumb organization enhances sales performance by categorizing your products into categories and subcategories, making it easier for users to find desired products.
Breadcrumb Plugins for WordPress Sites
There are many plugins available for breadcrumb usage on WordPress sites. Some of the most popular plugins include:
Yoast SEO Breadcrumbs
Breadcrumb Nav XT
Simple Breadcrumbs
Breadcrumb is a crucial tool for both SEO and user experience. By using breadcrumb logic correctly, you can enhance your performance and site navigation time.
Integrating third-party tools such as Microsoft Clarity, which tracks user site heatmaps, can enhance your breadcrumb schema design for better performance.
