Glossary

Breadcrumbs

Navigation links showing a page's position in the site hierarchy (Home > Services > SEO). Helps users and search engines understand your site structure. Breadcrumb schema can appear in search results.

Why It Matters

Breadcrumbs solve two problems at once. For users, they provide orientation - "where am I on this site?" - and an easy way to navigate back up the hierarchy. For search engines, they reinforce your site structure and the relationship between pages.

When you add breadcrumb schema markup, Google can display your breadcrumbs directly in search results, replacing the raw URL. This makes your listing cleaner, more informative, and more clickable. It's one of the easiest schema wins you can implement.

In Practice

Implement breadcrumbs on every page that sits below the homepage in your site hierarchy. The format is simple: Home > Category > Subcategory > Page. Use your actual page titles, not keyword-stuffed alternatives.

Add BreadcrumbList schema markup so Google can use them in search results. Most CMS platforms have plugins that handle both the visible breadcrumbs and the structured data.

Make sure breadcrumbs reflect your actual URL structure. If your breadcrumb says Home > Services > SEO but your URL is /page-42, something's off.

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