How important are breadcrumbs?

[petrakraft]

Do you see their usage in usability and / or regarding SEO?

What about the position? Normally they are embeded in the top area ... what if I have a really long page and I embed them at the bottom of the page. Isn't that positive for the user - he doesn't have to scroll up again. But what about the SEO purpose if they are at the botton in the nirvana?

Are breadcrumbs navigational links and have less value because of that?

[NewBuilder]

I think they are very usefull on top of the page. As you would probably link to the pages in the breadcrumbs in another way if you wouldn't have the breadcrumbs, it doesn't really matter for your linking structure. Haven't seen any evidence or experience that links in breadcrumbs are less valuable because they are in the breadcrumb.

As for additional placement at the bottom: I think it depends on the page. On a content page, actually quite some people scroll down reading and at the bottom they look for alternative resources. Why not add the breadcrumb also there along with other relevant links.

[goodnewscowboy]

Hi again Petra: My answer is strictly based on usability. If you've got a deep site,  the breadcrumbs are highly useful for the user that comes into your site from a SERP. Top placement is the standard but for long pages, they could be added elsewhere.

[ThomasHgenhaven]

I have a hard time deciding on this one. On some websites, I have seen Google adapting the breadcrumbs as microformats. But I have tried implementing them the exact same way on other, equally authoritative websites, without breadcrumbs showing up in SERPs. Annoying.

Anywho, I prefer to have bread crumbs both in the top and in the bottom if the pages are very long.

I think it is a great supplement to help uers and bots navigate / crawl the website, but it is no replacement for good network / contextual linking.

[Getz.pro]

Good morning,

Regarding usability; users are accustomed to having breadcrumbs at the top, so moving them exclusively to the bottom may be weird. Perhaps a <back to="" top="">type link?</back>

I like the use of breadcrumbs if done correctly for deep sites as it give me a way of walking back up a menu when I find myself on a deep page.

As for SEO, I see little advantage if you already have a sitemap XML, and good navigation links.

[Dan-Petrovic]

Google has endorsed use of breadcrumbs in several of their videos. They are a helpful device for website with complex structure or hierarchy such as eCommerce sites. They not only aid user navigation but also help search engines get a clearer picture about your site's structure. For example if you're using faceted navigation you could end up on a product page that has a long URL and ambiguous placement in the site's hierarchy. Breadcumbs can aid with this. Another neat thing is in the SERPs when you get little: Top Level > Main Category > Sub Category type links under your snippet.

I would use it at the top only, it's become a bit of a standard and people know where to expect it. Referncing it twice would be just a doubleup of the same set of links.