For a month or two, there has been a new addition to the search engine results pages (SERP’s). This addition is the inclusion of breadcrumbs.
Let’s start with an explanation of what breadcrumbs are. Breadcrumbs are a form of navigation that shows the users path that got them to their current location. It allows for a user to easily return to the page they just left if they landed somewhere they didn’t want to. In addition to being very useful for the user, it turns out it is also very search engine friendly!
To make your breadcrumbs search engine friendly, simply utilize relevant keywords in your word navigation. Make sure to make it natural and flows with the theme of your page. Here is an example of breadcrumb navigation on a website:
Instead of simply putting Home > Cross Country Skiing > Fun For Kids, I took advantage of adding keywords like Adirondack. This is an excellent way to improve the seo on your pages.
Matt Cutts was recently asked what kind of delimiter to use. As you can see from the above example, I use the right arrow (>). Other possibilities are the vertical pipe (|), a slash (/), a bullet, a dash (-), a colon (:). He didn’t give a clear cut answer, but he did shed a little light on the fact that this is a new possibility with Google that users seem to like.
As Google figures out what the final breadcrumb product will look like within the SERP’s, it is certainly a good idea to add this to your site. Discovering an additional form of user friendly navigation that is also search engine friendly is a win / win situation. Or a win – win situation. Or a win > win situation.