Breadcrumbs

As your website grows, it becomes important to help users find their way around. A clear overview makes navigation easier.

Do you want to make it easier for your visitors to find their way around and keep track of where they are?

Then implementing breadcrumbs might be a good idea.

What are breadcrumbs?

Breadcrumbs, often referred to as breadcrumbs, are a navigation path that shows the user where they are on a website in relation to the structure of the page. They are often displayed as links in a horizontal row at the top of the page, for example: Front page > Category > Subcategory > Current page.

Why are breadcrumbs important?

Breadcrumbs help both users understand context and search engines index content more efficiently. They thus contribute to a better user experience and can also strengthen your search engine optimization (SEO) by creating clearer navigation.

Function and benefits of breadcrumbs

When working with larger websites, it’s all about creating consistency and making the experience as simple as possible for your visitors. Here, breadcrumbs can be a smart solution that creates value on multiple fronts.

When it comes to online marketing, it is important to create a simple and logical user journey that makes it easy to find your way around.

In this regard, breadcrumbs are particularly beneficial when it comes to:

• Improved user experience (UX): Breadcrumbs make it easier for users to find their way around by showing them exactly where they are on the website, so they don’t feel “trapped” on a subpage.
• Efficient navigation: Users can quickly click back to previous pages or main categories, which is practical on webshops with many different product categories, for example.
• SEO value: Breadcrumbs help search engines understand the structure of a website. Google often displays breadcrumbs directly in search results, which can increase CTR for users.
• Reduced bounce rate: When navigation is clear, it becomes easier for users to find content, which can reduce bounce rate.

Types of breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs can be set up in different ways, depending on the experience you want to give your users and what goals you have for your website.

Some forms help most with navigation, while others can be beneficial for SEO or show the user’s path through a process.

Therefore, it is important to choose the type that best matches the structure of your page and the needs of your users.

There are primarily three types of breadcrumbs, each serving different purposes:

Hierarchical breadcrumbs

These show the path from the front page down through categories to the current page. This type is the most common. By using this type of breadcrumb, you can help visitors understand the structure of the website.

Example:Forside > Category > Subcategory > Product

History-based breadcrumbs

This type of breadcrumb trail displays the user’s navigation steps in the order they were visited. The feature is similar to a browser’s back button, but can be less convenient as the path is often unpredictable.

Attribute-based breadcrumbs

This type is often used in e-commerce, where the navigation does not follow a fixed structure. Instead, the path shows the filters or attributes the user has selected. This could be size, color, or brand, for example.

How to implement breadcrumbs

If you run a webshop or website with a large content universe, breadcrumbs can be a great help in making navigation more manageable. But when it comes to implementing breadcrumbs, there are different ways to do things.

Several CMS systems and plugins such as Yoast, Rank Math, etc. allow automatic setup of breadcrumb paths on the website. If you find yourself in a different situation, you can also implement breadcrumbs directly in the code on different pages through structured data.

If you want to get started, you can start with these steps:

1. Map out your structure Start by getting an overview of how your website is structured and what steps your breadcrumbs should show (e.g. Home > Category > Product).
2. Prepare for schema markup Decide where on the page the breadcrumbs will appear and which pages will have breadcrumb markup.
3. Use a tool Use Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper or read the instructions on org to see which fields you need to fill in. For example, name (title) and URL for each step in the path.
4. Insert markup into the code Add schema markup into the HTML code on the relevant pages. This can be as JSON-LD in the header or directly as microdata in the HTML elements.
5. Test your code Use Google’s Rich Results Test to ensure that your schema markup is correct and can be read by search engines.
6. Monitor the results Check in Google Search Console whether your breadcrumbs are being picked up and displayed in the search results. Adjust your code as necessary.