Story Based Question
You’ve just redesigned your online store, and you want to make sure visitors can easily navigate through categories, subcategories, and product pages. You’ve heard that breadcrumbs can improve user experience and SEO, but you’re not sure how to actually add them to your website. You start thinking: How do I implement breadcrumbs on my website so that they help with SEO and make navigation easier for users?
Exact Answer
You can implement breadcrumbs on your website by either adding them manually through HTML or using a content management system (CMS) plugin. For SEO, you should also structure them correctly with schema markup.
Explanation
Breadcrumbs aren’t just useful for users; they also help search engines understand the structure of your website, which can improve SEO. There are two main ways to implement breadcrumbs:
- Manually Adding Breadcrumbs with HTML:
If you’re comfortable with coding, you can create breadcrumbs manually by using HTML for structure. Here’s a basic example of the HTML code for breadcrumbs:
<nav class=”breadcrumbs”>
<a href=”/”>Home</a> >
<a href=”/furniture”>Furniture</a> >
<a href=”/living-room”>Living Room</a> >
<span>Sofas</span>
</nav>
This creates a simple breadcrumb trail where each part is clickable, except the final section (in this case, “Sofas”), which shows the current page. This is easy to implement, but if your site is large, managing breadcrumbs manually can become tedious. - Using a CMS Plugin (for platforms like WordPress):
If you use a CMS like WordPress, Shopify, or Magento, you can take advantage of built-in breadcrumb features or install a plugin to add breadcrumbs automatically. For example, WordPress has plugins like Yoast SEO and Breadcrumb NavXT, which can generate and display breadcrumbs on your pages without needing any coding. - Implementing Breadcrumbs with Schema Markup:
For SEO, it’s important to structure your breadcrumbs in a way that search engines can easily read. You can use JSON-LD or Microdata schema markup to tell Google exactly how your breadcrumbs are organized. Here’s a simple example of how to do this using JSON-LD:
{
“@context”: “https://schema.org”,
“@type”: “BreadcrumbList”, “itemListElement”:
[
{
“@type”: “ListItem”,
“position”: 1,
“name”: “Home”,
“item”: “https://www.example.com”
}
{
“@type”: “ListItem”,
“position”: 2,
“name”: “Furniture”,
“item”: “https://www.example.com/furniture”
},
{
“@type”: “ListItem”,
“position”: 3,
“name”: “Living Room”,
“item”: “https://www.example.com/living-room”
},
{
“@type”: “ListItem”,
“position”: 4,
“name”: “Sofas”,
“item”: “https://www.example.com/sofas”
}
]
}
This code helps search engines understand the breadcrumb structure, which can improve how your pages appear in search results.
Example
Let’s say you’re running an online store selling various home goods. You want to implement breadcrumbs on your product pages like this:
Home > Furniture > Living Room > Sofas
If you’re using WordPress, you could simply install the Yoast SEO plugin, which will add breadcrumbs to your site with minimal effort. The breadcrumbs will automatically update as you create new pages and categories.
If you’re manually adding them in HTML, you’d write something like this for a sofa product page:
<nav class=”breadcrumbs”>
<a href=”/”>Home</a> >
<a href=”/furniture”>Furniture</a> >
<a href=”/living-room”>Living Room</a> >
<span>Sofas</span>
</nav>
Finally, adding the JSON-LD schema markup, as shown earlier, helps Google understand this structure, which can enhance your search rankings by making the content more accessible and organized.
Implementing breadcrumbs on your website is simple and can be done manually or through a plugin, depending on your platform. By structuring breadcrumbs with schema markup, you can also improve your SEO by making your site more navigable for both users and search engines. Breadcrumbs not only enhance user experience but can also play a role in boosting your rankings.