If you’ve ever felt frustrating disorientation from visiting a poorly designed website, you’re not alone. Unfortunately, lots of users share this experience, and lots of brands lose users due to this simple lack of design attention. For some, the issue is greater than a basic design flaw, but for most, it’s an easy enough fix.
What is Breadcrumb Navigation?
When it comes to website design, breadcrumb navigation is an easy way for users to find their location on a given website and understand how they got there. It’s a basic, user-friendly means to navigate so that users can easily click between pages more quickly when visiting from other searches or a deep link (assuming your site content and overall structure makes sense). It improves the findability of key pages and keeps the user experience simple so they’ll keep coming back for more.
So, if your business’s website is multi-layered, you might consider implementing this method to make your site easier for users to navigate. Of course, like any design element, there is a right and a wrong way to do it. Let’s take a closer look at a few tips to help you create the most effective breadcrumb navigation experience:
- Breadcrumb Navigation Isn’t for Every Site – You should only use breadcrumb navigation if it makes sense for your site’s structure. You see, this method is linear. So, you only want to employ it if it makes sense with your site’s hierarchy. A site with lower-level pages that are already accessible from different landing pages doesn’t need breadcrumb navigation because it will only confuse users who keep accessing the same pages from different starting points. You also don’t need to use this if your site only has a few pages.
- Breadcrumb Navigation Shouldn’t Be Too Large – This navigation method is a secondary tool to your primary navigation bar, so it shouldn’t be too prominent on your page. The focus should still remain on the primary navigation bar so that users don’t mistake your breadcrumb navigation as the primary.
- Breadcrumb Navigation Should Include the Full Navigational Path – When users conduct a search that leads them to your landing page, they should still see the full, clear navigational path that leads them to the primary pages. In order for breadcrumb navigation to help users, it must include the guidance of all levels. Even if users didn’t start out on your homepage, you want to provide an easy way for them to explore your full site.
- Breadcrumb Navigation Should Read Left to Right – Progress should go from highest level to lowest, with the closest link to the left being your homepage, and the closest link to the right being the user’s current page. The link closest to the left will appear as the beginning of the chain or search, so as a designer, you want it to be your highest-level page.
- Breadcrumb Titles Should Be Consistent with Page Titles – You don’t want to confuse the user, so keep breadcrumb titles and page titles consistent, especially if you’re targeting certain keywords within those titles. You also need to make sure that you clearly link breadcrumb titles to the page. If the title doesn’t have a link, make it clear.
- Breadcrumb Navigation Design Can Be Creative – A traditional breadcrumb navigation design is laid out like this: Home > About Us > Careers. But, you don’t have to follow this path. You can and are encouraged to make the design more creative to have a greater impact on your audience. You can use different symbols, colors, etc., so long as it still makes sense with the rest of your site’s aesthetic.
- Breadcrumb Navigation Should Be Clean – Breadcrumb navigation is simply an aid for users that should blend into the background. It should be clean and uncluttered, and need only be noticed if and when a user is looking for it.
If breadcrumb navigation makes sense for your site design, then it can be an incredibly helpful aid for users and ultimately your conversion rates. You just have to consider which type best makes sense for your website. And, above all, you must know your audience in order to create a truly exceptional user experience for them so that they keep coming back for more.
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