Breadcrumbs Navigation: How to Create an Awesome Site Navigation Bar
Have we all been lost in a theme park? Although we won’t agree to it, there is a tiny bit of frustration. We stare around in despair, and a passer-by points us to a map showing us where we are in the park. You suddenly know exactly where you are and which entrance and exit you have. Panic ensues! We go woof woof! Breadcrumbs navigation does something similar to site navigation. The digital experts at the best digital marketing agency in Singapore will explain the types, benefits, and important guidelines for using breadcrumbs. What’s Breadcrumb Navigation? Breadcrumbs can be used as a secondary navigation tool to help users understand the relationship between their position on a page (such as a product page) or higher-level pages (such as a category page). This term comes from Hansel and Gretel, where children leave breadcrumbs to track their way back. Breadcrumbs make it easy to find your way back to a page you don’t want or take a few steps back and start again. Breadcrumbs aren’t a website-only feature. Microsoft introduced Breadcrumbs in Windows Vista, which has been an integral part of every Windows edition. What is the best time to use breadcrumbs? Breadcrumb navigation is used for large websites or websites with hierarchically organized pages. E-commerce websites are a great option, as many products can be grouped into logical groups. As one of the best digital marketing agency in Singapore will tell you that one should not use breadcrumbs on single-level websites without logical groupings or hierarchies. However, it is a great way to determine if a website could benefit from breadcrumb navigation. First, create a map or diagram representing the website’s navigation structure. Then analyze whether breadcrumbs would help the user navigate between and within each category. Breadcrumb navigation should not be considered a replacement for primary navigation menus. It is a convenient feature, a secondary navigation scheme that allows users to establish their location, and an alternative method to navigate around your website. Types of Breadcrumbs in Website Design Hierarchy-based breadcrumbs The location-based breadcrumbs allow users to go to a higher category (or page) than the one they are currently on. Imagine someone searching Google for desert shoes. They find a search result and land on one of your product pages. They are unhappy with what they see and want to look at other options. For example, how can they access the main category page for Men’s shoes or a subcategory page for Men’s Shoes – Desert Shoes? Hierarchy-based breadcrumbs allow users to easily see the site’s architecture and move to higher levels. Check Best Buy to see how they handle it. History-based breadcrumbs These buttons serve the same purpose as the browser back button. They allow a user to return to the page they have previously visited. This is useful when the user reaches a product page after applying multiple filters to the category page. History-based breadcrumbs allow users to quickly jump to the previous page in their journey with all their selections intact. The most common use of history-based breadcrumbs is the linking to ‘Back To Results”. Attribute-Based breadcrumbs Attribute-based breadcrumbs display the attributes that a user selects on a page. These breadcrumbs can be found on the eCommerce category pages of most eCommerce platforms, where users can choose attributes to filter search results. 5 Benefits to Using Breadcrumbs Breadcrumbs were initially created as a navigation tool, but they have since been used to improve many aspects of the user experience online. Encourages Browsing, Reduces Bounce A user will bounce if they reach a product page they don’t like or return to the category page to begin over. Breadcrumbs encourage users not to bounce yet and start over. A study by Hull S.S. (2004) found that Breadcrumbs users completed tasks faster than those who didn’t use them. Breadcrumbs are a great way to increase productivity and save time for users who use the internet daily (even intranets such as an organization). Increases the Findability of Your Website Peter Morville, one of the founders and fathers of Information architecture on the World Wide Web, created the user experience honeycomb, which illustrates seven key facets of great user experiences. Breadcrumbs improve website findability by allowing users to navigate easily and find what they need. Breadcrumbs Provide SEO Benefits The SEO company in Singapore will explain the benefits of breadcrumbs in SEO. In the past, Google announced that it would replace the URL in its search results with the site’s name and breadcrumb navigation path. Google believes that real-world website names will improve usability. The breadcrumb links will also show users where they will be taken when they click the search result. Webmasters can use the schema markup for Breadcrumbs to communicate with search engines more effectively. You may utilize breadcrumbs to effectively explain your pages to search engines and provide an extra SEO benefit. You also have more chance of a click-through with breadcrumbs as they act as additional inks in search results. There’s no reason not to use them, and Breadcrumbs never cause problems in user testing. Breadcrumbs are only 30% of users’ attention. This is a good sign. Breadcrumbs take up very little space, so don’t let that stop you from using them. Over the years, breadcrumbs have remained relatively consistent in appearance. This long-term familiarity makes breadcrumbs instantly recognizable and, therefore, very useful. Breadcrumbs Reduce Anxiety Breadcrumbs help users reduce anxiety by showing them all the process steps. For example, there are only a few steps to set up an account with VWO. Using breadcrumbs, we can tell users how many steps it takes to set up an account on VWO. Users can also go back to previous steps at any time. This allows the user to see how much time and effort it takes to set up the process. These visual cues can be a powerful motivator once someone has initiated an attempt. 5. How to implement breadcrumbs in WordPress Breadcrumbs can be a very useful navigation tool for users