What is a Breadcrumbs Website?

A breadcrumbs website is a navigational aid used in user interface design. It allows users to keep track of their locations within websites, applications, or even documents. They indicate the current page's location to the users within the website’s hierarchy, enabling them to navigate back to their parent directory or main page more conveniently.

'Breadcrumbs' term is derived from the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale where the main characters create a trail of breadcrumbs in order to trace back their path. Similarly, in web browsing, breadcrumbs offer users a way to trace the path back to their original landing point.

Tiny texts, usually found on top of a webpage, form the breadcrumbs. Clicking on a breadcrumbs link can take you back one step, and this can be repeated until the user reaches the very first page they started from. Since it greatly enhances the user experience, it is a valuable feature to incorporate in a website.

In the landscape of digital marketing, breadcrumb navigation plays an increasingly crucial role. First and foremost, it improves the overall user experience by providing a straightforward navigation system. Users get a clear and quick understanding of the structuring of your site, thus reducing the efforts and time to search and surf through your site.

Search engines like Google appreciate websites that provide good user-experience, and incorporating breadcrumb navigation helps in achieving this. SEO ranking improves as Google algorithm identifies the breadcrumbs and displays them in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), thus enhancing your site's visibility.

Also, it reduces the 'bounce rate' - the percentage of visitors who navigate away from your website after viewing only one page. Keeping your users engaged with an easy-to-navigate website can hence indirectly improve your SEO performance.

Amazon's website is a classic example of implementing breadcrumbs website navigation. As users delve deep into specific product categories, the breadcrumb trail expands, showing each preceding category in the hierarchy. This allows users to remove or modify their search parameters easily, thereby improving the user experience.

Social media platform LinkedIn also uses the breadcrumb navigation system. As a user navigates through various sections (like Jobs, My Network, Interests, etc.), a breadcrumb trail keeps track of their navigation path, making browsing more user-friendly.

The website of the British Government (www.gov.uk) also represents an impressive usage of breadcrumb navigation. The website deals with a vast amount of information, but the breadcrumb trail makes it easier for users to navigate without feeling overwhelmed. Hence, these real-life examples certify the role of a breadcrumbs website in enhancing user interface and contributing to SEO.