September 23, 2022
Ever thought about how the users can navigate a website? Breadcrumbs implemented in web design and development are one of the reasons. These pointers guide users on their location and aid Google in understanding your content better. Let's learn the what, why, and how of breadcrumbs and how web design services can help design better websites using them.
Ever wondered what helps you move around a website? How would a user know his location on a website?
The answer is Breadcrumbs. No, not the ones you eat but the pointers that help both users and Google identify your website's structure.
A website generally has plenty of pages where the users can get lost trying to find their way. Breadcrumbs are an important part of web design and development because they can significantly improve site navigation.
Every web design company makes it a point to include breadcrumbs to reduce the number of actions a user takes to find the next page. With its efficiency as a visual aid, breadcrumbs can easily inform a user of his location on the site within a website's hierarchy. In a way, including breadcrumbs improve the value of a landing page.
A breadcrumb trail is a small text path that is generally located at the top of a page showing where the user is on a particular website. It is a secondary navigation scheme implemented in web design services.
The term breadcrumb is derived from Hansel and Gretel's fairy tale, in which the main characters drop breadcrumbs to make a path to come back to their home. Similar to the tale, breadcrumbs offer users a way to trace back to the place they started or locate where they currently are on a website.
Web design and development services include breadcrumbs in websites with large content categorized in the hierarchy. They look like progress bars. The most simple breadcrumbs form is horizontally placed text links separated by a greater than symbol(>).
The symbol usually indicates the level of that page a user is on close to a page link beside it.
1. Location-based breadcrumbs
Every website design and development company uses location-based breadcrumbs for websites with multiple navigation levels. These breadcrumbs show the user where they are located in the website's hierarchy. It simplifies the way users can travel a webspace( generally more than two levels).
2. Attribute-based breadcrumbs
Attribute-based breadcrumbs help in displaying the attributes of a specific page. For example, in e-commerce sites, the breadcrumb trail makes up the product attributes.
Home>Gender>Product Category> Sub Categories like Price Range
3. Path-based breadcrumbs
This trail shows users the steps users took to reach a specific page. They can view the entire path of the website structure through which they have traveled to a particular page.
As per website design and development services, Path-based breadcrumbs are pretty dynamic.
1. Convenience
Breadcrumbs can help users with a secondary way to navigate a website. When a website design and development company applies a breadcrumb trail for all the pages on a large multi-level website, users navigate to higher-level categories seamlessly.
2. Lesser clicks, smoother navigation
The users don't have to press the Back button or the website's primary navigation to return to the main page. This leads the users to use breadcrumbs with a lesser number of clicks.
3.Saves screen space
Breadcrumb trails are limited to a particular website section, horizontally oriented, and visible for users to discover. The good part is they don't take up more space and remain in a specific area where the users can make use of them to navigate the website easily.
Web design services include breadcrumbs for website designing as they have no content overload. Breadcrumbs can outweigh all the negative points if they're used correctly.
4. Lowers Bounce Rates
Breadcrumbs can help persuade a new website visitor to keep browsing, giving a seamless user experience. The landing page comes first, and the website experience usually comes later.
Take a situation where a user lands on a page through a Google search and views a breadcrumb trail. He hopes to discover more about a company and its offerings.
It somehow lowers the overall bounce rate for the website.
Some top website developers commit common mistakes while implementing breadcrumbs, even if they are pretty simple. Let's look at them.
1. Unnecessary Usage
Many web design services use breadcrumbs even when they have no use in the website. It overwhelms the users and doesn't offer any convenience. In order to avoid confusion, a website design and development company should keep it easy for users.
2. Primary Navigation
Breadcrumbs can't replace the primary navigation in a website design and development. They are completely optional.
If the primary navigation is missing, it will be challenging for the users to navigate to other sections of your website. The user will constantly have to press the Back button to go to the previous page.
3. Multiple Categories
If your website has multiple pages in various categories, it is advisable to avoid using breadcrumbs simultaneously. It is also important that you give your website design and development company a neat formation of categories.
Otherwise, breadcrumbs are ineffective and confusing for the users.
Closing Words-
Even if Hansel and Gretel used breadcrumbs to find their way back to their home, they still got lost. Therefore, proper implementation of breadcrumbs is important for the visitors to have a seamless experience of your website.
With our highly-skilled web design and development services in LA, USA, Consagous Technologies can seamlessly guide your website visitors across the website structure.
To access our custom mobile app development services in USA with standard procedures, reach us today.
