Breadcrumbs how important are they

[ClaireH-184886]

Hi, i am working on a joomla template site and i am just wondering how important the breadcrumbs are.

I have one installed at the moment but what i have noticed is, what is showing on the main menu is showing on the breadcrumbs so i am not sure if i really need the breadcrumbs module.

any help and advice would be great

[gfiorelli1]

Hi Diane,

I personally suggest you to maintain the breadcrumbs in your Joomla site.

Even though, when it come to SEO, they are not a primary on factor, surely they are taken into consideration by Google, so much that Google may use them in the SERPs snippets (as well explained by Bill Slawski in this post.

Surely, being the breadcrumbs nothing else than a schemating link representation of the "navigational branch" of the page, it helps search engines understanding the navigational architecture of the site.

A good resource about breadcrumbs and SEO is this old but still valid post by Ann Smarty on Search Engine Journal.

Finally, the breadcrumbs have a great usability importance, because they make really easy for any users to move throughout the content navigation of the site. Surely, as some tests prove, it is a page per visit incentive. You can read more about its usability advantages in this post

[ClaireH-184886]

thank you for that. this is my problem, the site i am working on is the following

http://www.cheapflightsgatwick.com/ and my problem is, the main menu is then copied onto the breadcrumbs, which i do not understand.

is there an example of a site that uses breadcrumbs

and will my site look silly by having two menus the same

[gfiorelli1]

Effectively it looks weird... from what I see, you have two breadcrumbs: - the first is the one just under the "cheap flight" menu (which, when you move your mouse over, shows itself correctly) - the second just under it and just above the body area. So, I wonder if the cheap flight menu is correct there, or would have needed to be a dropdown menú of a category "Cheap Flight". If I was you I would look that. And I would check also the breadcrumb module: are you using the Joomla original one (it seems so by the second) or are using also another module with the same function (at it seems from the first)... the correct one is the second, by the way. Finally... if the architecture of the site is going to flat as it is now (just one level), then the breadcrumb is not necessary. It is when the navigational levels are more (i.e.: home - category - subcategory - product/article).

[ClaireH-184886]

so you suggest that i get rid of the breadcrumbs and just keep the other menu's then