Breadcrumb trail

A breadcrumb trail is list of web pages, often located at the top of a page, that helps a user orient themselves to the site. Below is an example of what a breadcrumb trail may look like for this page.

Computer Hope - Dictionary - B Definitions - Breadcrumb trail

As shown in the above example, you can trace your tracks of how you may arrive at the breadcrumb trail definition on Computer Hope. You can find a breadcrumb trail like this example at the top of our pages.

Why are breadcrumbs important?

Most of the traffic a website gets is from visits to an individual page and not those starting at the home page. Because of this, most visitors don't know how the site is structured or what other areas are available. Having breadcrumbs allows visitors to immediately orient themselves with your site structure, making them more comfortable and less likely to bounce.

For example, if you searched for "What is a breadcrumb trail?" on Google and visited a page answering that question without breadcrumbs, you'd have no idea what else the site offers. However, upon visiting this page and reading "Dictionary" in the breadcrumb, you immediately understand that we also offer a dictionary. After reading the page, you may think, "I wonder what other terms I can find in the dictionary." This little extra thought may be enough for you to continue browsing the site.

Computer slang, Internet terms, Masthead, Navigation bar, SEO terms, Trace, Web page