subject: Breadcrumbs: The New Ranking Factor In Seo [print this page] A Breadcrumb is a type of a navigation structure which informs the visitor about the main and sub category of the web page being browsed. A Breadcrumb trail is usually placed below the main heading of the webpage and contains links to its respective categories and sub categories.
Importance of Breadcrumb Navigation Trail in SEO:
1. Thorough Interlinking of the Entire Website. Using breadcrumb navigation structure in your web page helps in effective linking of various web pages. A major search engine like Google gives a lot of importance to a well linked and structured website. Also, a well linked website not only holds well in front of search engines but also enhances the user experience in navigating the website.
2. Indexing of the Inner Web Pages. A website contains many web pages which are not linked from any part of the website except the archives. A well linked website helps the searchbots to drill down to the last level of the website and index them. This ensures that all the web pages of the website are indexed and have a chance of coming up in the organic search results.
3. Effective Distribution of Page Rank to All Web Pages. A well linked and well indexed website helps the search engines to distribute the page rank effectively to the internal web pages. All the first level web pages will get a uniform page rank lower than the home page and all the second level web pages will get a uniform page rank which is lower than the former.
The breadcrumb navigation structure of every website differs from another. The anchor text in the breadcrumb links can be based on many factors and varies depending on the nature of the website. Each of these different types of breadcrumb structure has its positive effect on the web page optimization.
The various Types of Anchor Text Breadcrumb Navigation:
1. Location Based Anchor Text: Breadcrumb navigation structure containing names of countries and cities are common for websites which provide services to a specific region or industrial websites. This helps the website to rank in the organic search results for long tail keywords containing the name of the region.
2. Keyword Based Anchor Text: Keyword based anchor text is used in breadcrumbs for websites which are looking to rank in organic search results for those very precise terms. With the breadcrumb structure featuring in search results, keywords rich anchor text gain a good foothold in ranking.
3. Categorized Anchor Text: This is the most common type of breadcrumb structure found on websites. The anchor text contains the specific category / sub category to which the web page belongs. On clicking the main category anchor text, the visitor lands on a web page containing all the sub categories. The most common example of this is, search directories.
All the three types of breadcrumb anchor texts offer great linking and indexing opportunities to the website.
Google has started integrating the breadcrumb navigation structure in its results page and many visitors have reported seeing the same. This makes breadcrumb navigation the latest ranking factor for seo and using the appropriate anchor text will further enhance a websites chances to rank well.
