breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs sit near the top of a page as a horizontal trail. Each segment links to a parent level, so a visitor (or a crawler) can walk up one level at a time. Google reads the markup to sort the page into your site’s structure. In Google’s words, “Google Search uses breadcrumb markup in the body of a web page to categorize the information from the page in search results.”

Three common patterns

• Hierarchy-based: mirrors your site structure (Home > Blog > Technical SEO). Strongest SEO signal.
• Attribute-based: reflects filters a shopper picked (Shoes > Women’s > Running). Good for catalogs.
• History-based: lists pages the user just visited. Weakest structural signal.

To be eligible for the breadcrumb treatment, add BreadcrumbList JSON-LD with at least two ListItem entries and the required position, name, and item properties. The item property can be dropped on the last entry, where Google uses the URL of the containing page. Keep the visible trail and the markup in agreement, and render it server-side so crawlers see it without running JavaScript.

{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[
  {"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://example.com/"},
  {"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Technical SEO"}
]}

Currency note: on January 23, 2025 Google stopped showing breadcrumbs in mobile search results across all languages and regions, simplifying the mobile visible URL to the domain only. They still appear on desktop, and the markup still helps Google understand your hierarchy on either device.