Navigation Using Bread Crumbs
In books for children, the main character might go into the woods and leave a trail of breadcrumbs for other characters to follow if they want to stay on track and not get lost.
In the same way, a website will provide a “breadcrumb” trail in the form of breadcrumb site navigation so that site visitors will be able to navigate back through the website’s structure.
In most cases, a breadcrumb trail will begin on the homepage, then continue on to the page for the relevant category, and finally arrive at the desired article.
Navigation: Top > Categories > Article (You Are Here)
Breadcrumb Structured Data
The breadcrumb navigation is a component of what is referred to as internal navigation, and the structured data for breadcrumbs is a reflection of that navigation.
Internal navigation makes it simple for site visitors to move around within a website, switching freely between a website’s various categories and sub-categories in search of engaging content to read.
Google is provided with information regarding the subject matter of a website category via breadcrumb structured data.
x is the subject of this category.
y is the topic of this category.
This category is for things related to z.
The context of this conversation revolves around structured data, which includes a representation of breadcrumb site navigation.
Is It Necessary to Have Structured Data for Breadcrumbs When Internal Linking?
The person who asked the question was interested in finding out whether or not the implementation of breadcrumb structured data navigation is sufficient for internal linking in order to improve SEO service provider.
The question is as follows:
“If you have structured data for breadcrumbs set up, is it still important for SEO to link internally to other pages on your website?”
It is Important to Have Internal Links.
In response, John Mueller from Google stated that internal linking presents an opportunity to communicate something additional to Google in comparison to what can be communicated via internal navigational links.
If you asked John Mueller about the importance of internal linking, he said:
“Yes, without a doubt.
When it comes to search engine optimization, the importance of internal linking cannot be overstated.
My opinion is that this is one of the most important things that can be done on a website in order to direct visitors and Google to the pages that the site owner considers to be the most important.
And what you deem to be important is entirely dependent upon your own perspective.
You have the option of placing importance on those aspects of the situation in which you earn the most money, in which you are the most formidable competitor, or in which you are, perhaps, the least formidable competitor.
You have the ability to really kind of focus things on those directions and those parts of your site if you make use of internal linking.
In addition, that is not something that can merely be substituted with structured data.
Because of this, the mere presence of structured data on a page is not enough to convince me that it should be used in place of conventional internal linking.
Even if you also provide URLs in the structured data, we will not use those URLs in the same way that we would use regular internal links on a page. This is because we do not use URLs in the same way that search engines do.
Therefore, it is most certainly not the case that hreflang annotations replace links between country versions, nor do breadcrumb annotations replace links between different levels of a website.
It is strongly recommended that you use standard HTML links to connect the various sections of your website.
And ideally, you shouldn’t just have a basic set of links; rather, you should look at it in a strategic way and think about what you care about the most and how you can highlight that with your internal linking. “And in addition, you shouldn’t just have a basic set of links; rather, you should look at it in a strategic way and think about how you can highlight that
Why is it Important to Have Internal Links?
Internal linking is not a ranking factor, according to what John Mueller said. He just mentioned that it’s a good way to tell Google which pages in a site are important, and he mentioned that it’s a good way to do that.
If we take a step back for a moment and examine the structure of a website, we will notice that the layout of a conventional website is similar to that of a pyramid.
At the very pinnacle of the structure is a relatively small point that, in most cases, provides overarching information about the purpose of the website and the services it provides.
When you navigate through the site’s categories and subcategories using the site’s navigation, the topics range from very general (at the top) to increasingly very specific (way down at the bottom of that pyramidal site structure), with the general topics appearing first.
The more extensive a website is, the greater the number of pages it contains, and the greater the risk that an essential page will be lost in the deluge of content due to its proximity to less prominent pages.
According to what was suggested by John Mueller, strategic internal linking is a way to point Google and visitors to your site to the topics that are the most popular or important.
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When internal links are used effectively, both Google and site visitors will have an easier time navigating to the content that is most relevant to them.
As Mueller recommended:
“…you should look at it in a strategic way and think about what you care about the most and how you can highlight that with your internal linking.” [Translation:
The purpose of “tricking” Google into believing that a web page is relevant for XYZ is not the primary reason why internal linking is important.
It reveals to search engines which pages should be prioritised the most.
Simply pointing to the important content on your site and ensuring that search engines can find it and rank it are the two main purposes served by internal linking.