Breadcrumb Navigation
Breadcrumb navigation is the linked trail showing where a page sits in the site hierarchy, like Home / Category / Product.
What breadcrumb navigation is
Breadcrumb navigation is the small trail near the top of a page showing where it sits in the site: Home / Category / Subcategory / Product, each step a link.
Why breadcrumbs matter
Shoppers landing mid-site from search or ads arrive with no map. Breadcrumbs give them one, and a one-tap path to browse the category the product lives in instead of bouncing.
Search engines read the same trail to understand site structure, and can show it in results.
Breadcrumb practices that hold up
- Reflect the real hierarchy, not the click path
- Every step tappable except the current page
- Marked up with BreadcrumbList structured data
- Kept short and visible on mobile
Frequently asked questions
Do product pages need breadcrumbs?
Especially them: product pages take the most external landings, and the breadcrumb is the fastest route from one product to its alternatives.
What if a product sits in several categories?
Pick one canonical trail per product and keep it stable. A breadcrumb that changes with the entry path confuses shoppers and dilutes structure signals.