Within SEO there are many factors to take into account to keep your page well optimized for Google, such as quality content, Link Building strategies or technical factors.
Another factor to take into account that we appreciate in SEO, has to do with user comfort in navigation, i.e. facilitate an intuitive navigation, so the user doesn’t feel confused or lost while browsing the website.
In this sense, breadcrumbs play a fundamental role in SEO, as they influence the ranking of our website in organic search results.
That’s why in this post, we want to explain what are breadcrumbs in SEO and how to implement and optimize them on your website. So that we learn why they’re essential to improve the SEO positioning of a website.
Table of contents
What are Breadcrumbs in SEO
The breadcrumbs or SEO breadcrumbs, are the navigation path that indicates which page we are on, i.e, the path of URLs that have been followed to reach the page on which we are at the present time, within a previously established hierarchy.
The breadcrumbs, in general, are located in the upper right corner of the website or below the navigation bar.
In the example we see in the image, from our website, we can see the use of breadcrumbs. These show the path of the different URLs of the categories up to the “SEO Audit” landing page, this allows us to easily return to the previous page.
When creating and implementing breadcrumbs on a website, whether it is an E-commerce or a service or explanatory website, we can observe two different types of breadcrumbs.
- Based on the navigation hierarchy: these are the most common, they show the navigation structure from the current page to the home page of the website.
For example: Home > Blog > Post
- History-based: Current in the same way as a browsing history, ordering chronologically your queries on the website.
For example: Home > Page 1 > Page 2 > Current Page
By implementing breadcrumbs on a website, we’re improving the navigation of the website, but at the same time we’re improving the crawling of Google bots and consequently the SEO of the website.
As you know, Google’s priority is mainly to offer the best search results based on the search intentions of users, and in addition to making several updates in this regard, Google is giving more and more weight or value to the breadcrumbs.
If we look in detail, Google already shows the navigation paths in the SERP or search results, using this means to categorize the results.
Breadcrumbs in SEO are possibly the great forgotten, but it has an importance to take into account, not only to improve the user experience (UX), in the same way the organic SEO positioning. Let’s see the reasons!
Benefits for SEO when there are crumbs on your website
Improve the user experience
- They allow us to know at a glance the location of the page we are in relation to the hierarchy of the website.
- They help the user to know the path to follow to access that page.
- Website breadcrumbs guide or advise the user once inside the webpage, which helps to reduce the bounce rate.
- Improve conversions, since users will have the possibility, from the breadcrumbs, to access other products that may be of interest. Just by clicking in the link for the previous section.
Positioning of the website in search engines
If we look in detail, Google already shows the navigation paths in the SERP or search results, using this means to categorize the results.
So the breadcrumbs will serve to show Google the structure of our site in an orderly manner, which will improve crawling by Google bots.
Also, the links that are in the breadcrumbs favor the crawling of all these URLs, benefiting the ascending navigation.
They keep the user browsing the website longer
Both benefits complement each other, since the implementation of breadcrumbs reduces the bounce rate of the website, which helps the user to stay longer on the website.
The bounce rate is related to CRO and web usability factors and despite not being a direct organic positioning factors, it does help to improve the SEO of the website.
As we’ve seen, breadcrumbs can help and be beneficial for organic positioning, always with the aim of improving the user experience and crawling by Google bots.
To do this, we have to take the following aspects into account and not make these mistakes.
- The size: the breadcrumbs should be seen, but not excessively. They must be legible and easy to click, especially in the mobile version
- Placement: It’s advisable that breadcrumbs are placed at the top of the page. Below the main image and above the main H1 header.
- Don’t duplicate or remove the navigation bar because you’re using breadcrumbs.
- You should choose the type of breadcrumbs that best suits the website and your content.
- Don’t link in breadcrumbs to the page the user is on. This avoids self-reference.
For example, if we are in an E-commerce of toys, on the page “toys for children”, that part of the breadcrumbs don’t have to include the URL linking to the “toys for children” page.
- There are no separate breadcrumbs for the mobile and desktop version of the website.
- Breadcrumb’s anchor texts. It’s highly advisable to use the breadcrumbs and take advantage of them to introduce the target keywords, so that they help Google to better understand the page and in parallel, to the semantic interpretation of the content by users.
- Structured data. We can implement the structured data in breadcrumbs.
To verify that we have implemented the structured data correctly in the breadcrumbs, that is, the URLs route to the landings in which we are, we will use Google’s structured data testing tool
Conclusions
As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, SEO breadcrumbs are the great forgotten in the positioning of any website.
If you’re not using breadcrumbs on your website, it’s a very simple implementation, and it can help you optimize your website for both, the user and Google.
Anyway, take into consideration that just by implementing breadcrumbs, while SEO friendly, it doesn’t guarantee a significant increase in search result visibility or session time. If you really want your website to grow organically you have to treat several factors in parallel, such as content, link building or technical seo. At Innovadeluxe we can help you, so feel free to contact with us!
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