In the fields of Design and Front-End for online stores, the English word " breadcrumb ," which literally means "bread crumb," is used to describe a feature that provides better navigation for visitors.
Generally, the breadcrumb feature of an online store is positioned at the top of product pages and product category pages , among others, as you can see in the image of the Lemare Móveis e-commerce website (developed by the Digital Marketing agency E-Plus with the Vtex platform ) that accompanies this article.
For example, let's say you own an online store that sells the latest craze: Hand Spinners in different sizes and shapes. In this case, you could create the following breadcrumbs :
• Home Page > Hand Spinners
• Home Page > Hand Spinners > Simple > 3 tabs
• Home Page > Hand Spinners > Luminosos
• Home Page > Hand Spinners > Luminosos
• Home Page > Hand Spinners > Luminous > 3 tabs
• Home Page > Hand Spinners > Luminous > 4 tabs
In this same example, it would be possible to include hand spinners made of plastic, metal, or other material; in the shape of a rudder, star, or other object; with or without stickers, among other features.
Note that breadcrumbs are simply paths or "breadcrumbs" that allow a user/consumer to return to previously visited pages more quickly.
In summary, the uses of breadcrumbs for your online store are:
• Better visualization of your website's context :
Regardless of which page a user is on your e-commerce website, they can easily find their way around with a quick glance at the breadcrumb . This visual cue makes using your online store easier.
• Easier navigation :
Looking at our example, suppose a visitor is on the product page for a " 4-tab Luminous Hand Spinner " and wants to go back to the beginning. In that case, they simply click on " Home Page " in the breadcrumb and that's it. Without this feature, the visitor would have to click "Back" three times in the internet browser or search for the " Home Page " button in the main menu.
• Improved indexing for search engines :
Search engines like Google view the hierarchy of your pages and use this information to rank them in search results. Therefore, it's important to include in your breadcrumbs those keywords (that refer to your products) that are most frequently searched on the internet. This is, therefore, an e-commerce SEO tactic.
Therefore, plan ahead how your e-commerce website's breadcrumbs will look. In a Digital Marketing agency , this feature begins to be prepared in the Draft and Briefing stages and is developed and improved throughout the entire e-commerce implementation project . Remember: if you have a good breadcrumb system , people will find and navigate your online store much more easily.
