Breadcrumbs are an important user experience tool that can also boost a website’s SEO rankings. They offer a clear way to support user navigation, improve the site’s internal linking structure, and enhance search engine snippets. They are relatively easy to implement, with numerous plug-ins and CMS guides available, but they do require some technical knowledge to use correctly.
Using breadcrumbs is important for websites that have multiple levels of navigation, as they provide a clear and intuitive way for visitors to retrace their steps, find where they are located on the site, and go back one level. This is especially important for multi-step processes such as filling out long forms or questionnaires that are divided into multiple pages, and where users move between pages in different browser tabs.
However, the key to good breadcrumb design is consistency: it should clearly display the user’s current location and enable them to retrace their steps without confusing them. Breadcrumbs should be clear and concise, with a consistent format, font size, and positioning across all pages. They should also be easily legible on different devices and screen sizes. It is recommended that breadcrumbs be displayed above the content but below the primary navigation menu, to avoid distracting from it. A clear separator is crucial, and the best choice is a ‘>’ symbol as it clearly denotes hierarchy and shows that a link is clickable.
Attribute-based breadcrumbs can be useful for e-commerce sites that have products in multiple categories, as they allow users to go directly to a higher-level page from the page they are on (e.g. men’s shoes – desert shoes from the product page). This can help to increase conversion rates, by encouraging users to stay on the website and explore their options.
Another benefit of breadcrumbs is that they can reduce the website’s bounce rate. This is a good thing, as high bounce rates signal to search engines that visitors didn’t find what they were looking for on your website, and may push your site down in SERPs. Having a lower bounce rate, on the other hand, signals that your website offers what users want and can help them find it quickly.
Finally, breadcrumbs can help a website rank well for specific keywords, by ensuring that the right keyword is included in the navigational path. This is particularly important for e-commerce websites, which often have a large number of keywords in the URLs of their product pages. It is recommended that you consider adding breadcrumbs to your website if it doesn’t already have them, and make sure they are consistently implemented on all pages of the site, using a consistent format and layout. For best results, make sure the breadcrumb titles match the page titles, and that they are links to actual pages – not to home or top-level pages. Sony does a great job of this, for example, with their breadcrumb navigation that reads “Environment, CSR, Quality” and links to the respective page.