How important are breadcrumbs?
-
Do you see their usage in usability and / or regarding SEO?
What about the position? Normally they are embeded in the top area ... what if I have a really long page and I embed them at the bottom of the page. Isn't that positive for the user - he doesn't have to scroll up again. But what about the SEO purpose if they are at the botton in the nirvana?
Are breadcrumbs navigational links and have less value because of that?
-
I think they are very usefull on top of the page. As you would probably link to the pages in the breadcrumbs in another way if you wouldn't have the breadcrumbs, it doesn't really matter for your linking structure. Haven't seen any evidence or experience that links in breadcrumbs are less valuable because they are in the breadcrumb.
As for additional placement at the bottom: I think it depends on the page. On a content page, actually quite some people scroll down reading and at the bottom they look for alternative resources. Why not add the breadcrumb also there along with other relevant links.
-
Hi again Petra: My answer is strictly based on usability. If you've got a deep site, the breadcrumbs are highly useful for the user that comes into your site from a SERP. Top placement is the standard but for long pages, they could be added elsewhere.
-
I have a hard time deciding on this one. On some websites, I have seen Google adapting the breadcrumbs as microformats. But I have tried implementing them the exact same way on other, equally authoritative websites, without breadcrumbs showing up in SERPs. Annoying.
Anywho, I prefer to have bread crumbs both in the top and in the bottom if the pages are very long.
I think it is a great supplement to help uers and bots navigate / crawl the website, but it is no replacement for good network / contextual linking.
-
Good morning,
Regarding usability; users are accustomed to having breadcrumbs at the top, so moving them exclusively to the bottom may be weird. Perhaps a <back to="" top="">type link?</back>
I like the use of breadcrumbs if done correctly for deep sites as it give me a way of walking back up a menu when I find myself on a deep page.
As for SEO, I see little advantage if you already have a sitemap XML, and good navigation links.
-
Google has endorsed use of breadcrumbs in several of their videos. They are a helpful device for website with complex structure or hierarchy such as eCommerce sites. They not only aid user navigation but also help search engines get a clearer picture about your site's structure. For example if you're using faceted navigation you could end up on a product page that has a long URL and ambiguous placement in the site's hierarchy. Breadcumbs can aid with this. Another neat thing is in the SERPs when you get little: Top Level > Main Category > Sub Category type links under your snippet.
I would use it at the top only, it's become a bit of a standard and people know where to expect it. Referncing it twice would be just a doubleup of the same set of links.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
More important SEO
Hello, I was wondering where my time is most valuable. I have a linking tree as follows: Main Site > Product > Specific Product Is the Product page more important to add SEO or is the end deep linked page "specific product" more important? I'm ready to hear the answers of whatever gives a better customer experience and both... Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | DiscGolfShopping0 -
Is it important to have a csv with high listing keywords?
I understand some digital marketing companies have a list of relevant keywords that are high ranking. I'm just curious why might they need it? I'm thinking about adapting this process into my companies marketing department, but I can't justify it if it is necessary. Could somebody care to explain why its important and an example when needed?
On-Page Optimization | | petmkt0 -
URL, Breadcrumb/Site Hierarchy Display, User (and Bot) Expectations
TL;DR: Do parts of URLs that are used throughout the web quite consistently have any influence on robots (or users)? Are there any studies? What would you use for pages that are something between a tag-page and a wiki-like article? Long version: On a site with a lot of content, I decided to go for tags to present articles on that topic together. My first thought was to simply list those under the URL /tag/{Tag_Name}. Short. Simple. Grabs the core meaning - on this page you'll find stuff about the tag. But: those tag-pages will be more than just lists of the tagged pages (let's say they are articles on various topics and products with certain attributes and the same tag can apply to a product and an article). The tag pages themselves will often talk a lot about the use of said tag - extensively, without blabbering. It is aimed at being a landing page and hub for the tag/keyword. Having this in mind, I pondered using /wiki/. It does fit in some respects, but it really is not a wiki. /info/, /lexicon/, /knowledge/ and other ideas came to mind but the more I thought the weirder I did find most ideas. What I am now wondering: Do these parts of URLs (/tag/, or /product/, or /wiki/) that are not really keywords in most cases have any influence on search engines? They are used quite consistently across the web and therefore could be used as signals. I suspect, though, that they might have more influence on shaping user expectation. (If I see /wiki/ in an URL or site hierarchy display (breadcrumb), I expect ... well, a wiki-style page; if I see /tag/ I expect a collection of stuff with that tag.) What would you chose if it is not quite a tag, nor quite a wiki but something in-between? Or do you think it does not matter at all? (Breadcrumbs will be used and google has used them for display in just about all SERPs.) Are there perchance any studies concerning these parts of URLS? Regards Nico
On-Page Optimization | | netzkern_AG0 -
Where should breadcrumbs point
Hi, On the single product page I such breadcrumbs structure: Home > Women's Shoes > Sandals > Nike > The Name of Shoe Where should the "Nike" part point? To the main "Nike" brand page? Or to the "Women's Nike Sandals" page? At first glance the second variant is more logical, any reason why Zappos links to the main brand page, e.g.: http://www.zappos.com/hudson-amber-raw-edge-hem-short-in-indie-indie ? I'd be very grateful if someone experienced with this stuff will explain. Thank you!
On-Page Optimization | | dimsemenov0 -
Tags in wordpress -Important?
Hello, I use the Wordpress plataform in my blog. What I want to ask is, how important is the tag field in the posts area. Since I have the title tag and meta description how important is that field? Its really a question that was in my mind since I start doing SEO 😛 Tks in advance guys 🙂
On-Page Optimization | | PedroM0 -
Importance of URL Structure
We are trying to restructure our onpage SEO and want to make sure we have our URLs correct. The problem is we did the URLs incorrectly in the first place and the ones we currently have are several years olds. We have some URLs such as: http://www.firebrandtraining.co.uk/courses/management/prince2.asp and
On-Page Optimization | | RobertChapman
http://www.firebrandtraining.co.uk/courses/cisco/ccna_2007.asp which are not ideal but user experience aside does it make sense for us to change the URLs and use 301 redirects to the new ones or is the damage done to our natural rankings simply not worth making the change? I have read different articles saying different things, some say that URL structure has little weight (if any weight at all) on rankings while other people seem to say it is quite important. In addition we have heard that changing the URLs with a 301 redirect will cause a large drop in ranking which will take months to recover from and contrarily that 301s are now considered "ok" by Google and we shouldn't see too much change at all in our rankings. Any advice would be much appreciated.0 -
Image Optimization - File Name Important?
I am currently working on a site with 100+ recipes that all have image file names that are relevant, but not optimized for keyword purposes. I'm wondering - from an SEO perspective - would it be worth my time to go back through all of the images and rename them with keywords in mind? On my own site I have always done this as a "best practice" but I'm curious - does it make a difference to search engines? Does anyone have any recent research/experiences that they would like to share? Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | EssEEmily0 -
Importance of Keyword density?
Short, Sweet and easy for you guys!! How important is keyword density??? Cheers
On-Page Optimization | | wazza19850