Have you ever heard a detective or a policeman say that they are looking for the breadcrumbs that will lead them to the criminal? This would indicate that they are trying to find clues or traces. The same concept applies to the digital space – and to WordPress sites in particular. So, what exactly are breadcrumbs in WordPress?
When implemented correctly, whenever a user is unsure of where they are on a WordPress website, they can look for (digital) breadcrumbs. It is a secondary navigation trail that can help them pinpoint and understand their location on a website. Thus these breadcrumbs facilitate ease of use, allowing visitors to move back and forth across different site pages and content rapidly and easily.
Read on to learn more about breadcrumbs and how to add them to your website.
Understanding breadcrumbs
Here’s an example of what the breadcrumbs look like on the website:
There are a few things you should know in order to better appreciate and understand what breadcrumbs are in WordPress.
Benefits of adding breadcrumbs to the website
There are many benefits of adding breadcrumbs. First, they give users an alternative means of navigating your online platform. This additional option is especially useful for multi-level websites that have many sections and subsections.
These trails reduce bounce rates by providing users with an easy way to locate your site and move from page to page. Instead of needing to select the Internet browser’s “back” button or use the primary navigation tool, they can simply click on your breadcrumb and be immediately directed to their desired page.
Lastly, breadcrumbs can improve overall site visibility. Internal links are one of the factors that search engines look at when giving search rankings. The stronger your site’s internal linking structure, the higher your chances of appearing at the top of the search page.
Where to use breadcrumb navigation
While using breadcrumbs has its advantages, not all sites require a secondary pathfinding feature. Users can easily find their way around single-level WordPress websites or websites that do not follow complex content hierarchies or taxonomy. Thus, breadcrumb navigation provides little benefit for these sites and can lead to confusion.
This additional navigation feature is ideal for platforms that have a deep and layered content structure. Examples of websites that require breadcrumbs are e-commerce, large blogs, and informational and business platforms.
Add breadcrumbs in WordPress
The easiest way to add breadcrumbs in WordPress Yoast SEO Placement Once you have the plugin installed and activated, go to your WordPress dashboard and go into Yoast SEO → Advanced → Breadcrumbs,
From there, you can adjust the settings to decide what information should be displayed in each breadcrumb, as well as where you want them to appear in the first place.
To enable Breadcrumbs, toggle the switch at the bottom of the Settings page:
Next, you’ll want to add the breadcrumbs to a specific section on your page. There are two popular options for doing this:
- In a custom placement on your pages.
- In the sidebar widget.
Option (B) The easiest one so we’ll start with that. go for Appearance → Widget And add the following shortcode in the sidebar area of your choice:
This shortcode will be replaced with an actual live set of breadcrumbs.
If you want to go with a more custom option (A)You’ll need to add the following code snippet somewhere in your theme’s core files – probably just above the title area of your individual posts.
<?php
if (function_exists('yoast_breadcrumb')) {
yoast_breadcrumb( '</p><p id="breadcrumbs">','</p><p>' );
}
?>This code will tell the plugin where to show the breadcrumbs.
If you don’t like Yoast and want an alternative solution to breadcrumbs in WordPress, here is a list of some of the best breadcrumb plugins available.
Conclusion
Breadcrumbs are useful for multi-level WordPress websites. Adding these secondary navigation devices is also easy. Now that you are familiar with what breadcrumbs are and how to incorporate them into your website, you can make your platform more user-friendly and accessible.
