Knowing what breadcrumbs are might help you understand why they are crucial in SEO. The term "Breadcrumbs" was derived from the story of Hansel and Gretel, who went into the forest and left a trail of breadcrumbs on the ground so they could find their way home if they got lost. The term was then used as a navigation model we can see on websites today.
Breadcrumbs are one of the important elements of a website. This element will help the users know what page they are currently on. In addition, breadcrumbs can also help Google to understand the structure of a website. That is why breadcrumbs have such an important role in SEO. For more details, here's the definition of breadcrumbs.
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What are Breadcrumbs?
Breadcrumbs are website links that allow users to track where they are on the website and how far they are from the home page.
With these breadcrumbs, users can retrace the steps that need to be passed from the homepage to the page they are currently opening.
Usually, breadcrumbs are located at the top of the website or just below the navigation bar. Below is an example of what breadcrumbs look like.
From the breadcrumbs, you can visit the previous page by clicking on each link.
In addition to appearing on web pages, breadcrumbs also appear in Google search results. Breadcrumbs in search results will give users an overview of the position of the pages on your site when you visit them.
Types of Breadcrumbs
1. Hierarchy-Based Breadcrumbs
Hierarchy-based breadcrumbs are the most commonly used breadcrumbs. This element will tell you where you are in the website's structure.
Example of hierarchy-based breadcrumbs
Home > Blog > Article Category > Article Title
2. Attribute-Based Breadcrumb
These breadcrumbs are commonly used on e-commerce sites to indicate what attributes the user has clicked on.
Example of attribute-based breadcrumbs
Home > Product category > Gender > Size > Color
3. History-Based Breadcrumbs
These breadcrumbs will show users what pages they have visited.
Example of history-based breadcrumbs
Home > Article 1 > Article 2 > Current page.
Benefits of Using Breadcrumbs for SEO
From the definition of breadcrumbs above, you can now understand the description of breadcrumbs on a website. Then what are its benefits for SEO? The use of breadcrumbs on a website will provide several SEO benefits, including:
1. Google likes websites that use breadcrumbs
Breadcrumbs will tell Google how to structure your website. This element will assist search engine bots during the crawling and indexing phases. The bot will use a breadcrumbs structure to gather more information about your website.
In addition, Google will also display a breadcrumbs structure in search results to categorize the information from that page. With these breadcrumbs, users can understand where the page is on your website.
Breadcrumbs make it easy for Google and users to find your website, thus improving your website ranking.
2. Improve user experience
Breadcrumbs can improve user experience because they can make it easier for web visitors to browse website content.
When users visit a website for the first time, they are unfamiliar with the structure and layout of the content they are looking for. With the breadcrumbs, users can more easily navigate the website. Breadcrumbs will also encourage users to browse other pages of the website.
3. Reduce bounce rate
A bounce is when a user enters a specific page on your website, then exits that page without taking any other action.
While the bounce rate doesn't directly affect your page rank, a high bounce rate is an indication that there's a problem with the user experience. You can encourage web visitors to go to other pages by providing breadcrumbs.
For example, when a user searches for women's shoes on Google, the Jumia web page will be displayed. When the user opens the page and discovers that the shoes displayed do not suit their taste, it's very likely that the user will immediately leave the web page if the web doesn't provide breadcrumbs.
However, by providing breadcrumbs such as" Home > Main Categories > Women's Fashion > Women's Shoes," users will be attracted to click on the "Women's Shoes" menu to find other shoes they are looking for. In fact, it is possible that users will try to click on the Women's Fashion menu to shop for other items.
Conclusion
From the definition of breadcrumbs above, you can see that breadcrumbs can have an influence on the SEO process. Breadcrumbs will provide clues to search engines about the structure of your website so that the SEO techniques you have done can run more effectively.
Breadcrumbs will also make it easier for users to operate your website and find important content on other pages. With these various advantages, there is no reason not to use breadcrumbs on your website pages.