Are breadcrumbs still relevant?

[Tucky]

So I run an online store that uses wordpress/woocommerce and it doesn't have breadcrumbs active. I thought that Google etc were smart enough these days to understand site structure but after having a chat with ai it suggested it should be implemented.

It says they not only helps users backtrack to browse more items, but also passes link equity up to the category pages with relevant anchor text (the category name). Breadcrumb links thus strengthen the hierarchical structure of the site for search engines and users.

Your thoughts?

 

[CCarter]

I regularly use breadcrumbs as a consumer to navigate shopping sites. They make getting to the main category 1000% easier.

When there are extra steps to figure out a site consumers get fatigued quickly. It's easier to stay uniformed to other sites so consumers don't need a learning curve for your site.

You can actually just track whether users use them with events and see for yourself.

As for Google... meh.

 

[Ryuzaki]

Here's what's coming into my mind:

• Not having them creates more friction for finding products and decision making means lower conversion rate. This is a bottom of the funnel activity and will affect your bottom line.
• It's definitely great for users in terms of navigation and "backing out a level" to restart or refine their search. Mentally I'll have "starting points" for my dives and this lets me jump back to that point.
• Google definitely uses breadcrumbs (and you should have the proper markup on them) in the SERPs. It's a way to stand out and more entry points into the site from the SERPs.
• If I had to guess, the amount of juice flowing through them is adjusted for the fact that they're sitewide breadcrumbs, and the same goes for the anchors. I'd say they're good for crawling. It stops spiders from hitting dead ends instead of discovering more of your site.

I'm at the point where I'd say to not worry about Google beyond the ABC 123's of on-page. I'd worry completely about the user, especially since with eCom you could fire up some PPC campaigns and bypass the nonsense. And in this case, I think it's a complete positive to have breadcrumbs with no negatives.

I'd place them under, or even make them a part of, the header in a thin horizontal strip with smaller text (but still clickably-sized on mobile). Save horizontal width by replacing the "Home" brand name or even the text "home" with an icon of a house. Keep the links followed.

 

[secretagentdad]

I agree on the bread crumbs are always good train, with exception of final product pages.

I like sales. The level of pissed off you make them is that they have to type the home page in and get annoyed, vs a conversion dip differential of upper 2 figures in all but the strangest industries.
I even like killing the link to the home page in the logo on those. Freeze out with one cta and price is the way to go for most things.
If you're in an ultra competitive digital products niche or your product is something like a parts catalog, or small items in the shopping cart type thing ignore me.

 

[Tucky]

Thanks guys, for me I think final product page is the best place for breadcrumbs, that way they can circle back to the category page if they decided against that particular product. My niche is wall art.