"Bread crumbs" on the site: what are they for? Navigation «Bread crumbs»

Sites today on the Internet are very different, and from the fullness, the size will depend on the structure, and the index in the search engines, and then, whether some user wants to visit this or that resource.

Site owners have to solve a million issues related to the promotion of their resource, and equip the portal with all the necessary buttons and cells, plug-ins and other special systems for a comfortable stay of the user on the pages and rapid promotion of the site in the top. Those who are familiar with the famous fairy tale "Grenzel and Gretel", will remember the moment when children scattered bread crumbs, then to return home. This is the most vivid example of what "bread crumbs" are required for on the site, but this is too brief an explanation for such an important detail. That is why its value, the possibility of implementation, should be considered in more detail.

Navigation "bread crumbs": what is it and how does it work?

If you carefully study the components of the site and as an example take any online store (no matter whether it's clothing or household appliances), in the structure of the site there are necessarily pages of goods on which the visitor goes and is perfectly oriented. "Bread crumbs" here perform the same function: the visitor due to the presence on the site of this script can easily navigate the Internet resource, go to different categories and there leaf through the catalog and at the same time return to the main menu in one click.

The use of such a plug-in is a necessary thing on sites that represent several pages (tens, hundreds or thousands), and if they do not exist, users simply will not be able to navigate in it properly. This is the main point to consider when developing a website.

Using the wordpress blog, the bread crumbs on the site should be placed under the main header. This navigation will be a series of links from the main page to the one where the user of the site is at one time or another.

Is this the necessary navigation?

Not all sites take care of the user's comfort and often forget to insert the "bread crumbs" plugin into the structure. What happens if this system does not appear on a multipage resource? The answer is simple: firstly, the low flow of users due to the incomprehensibility of the orientation in the structure of the site, and secondly, the low level of indexing the portal in the search engines. The second consequence plays a big role - there is no site in the top, so it will see a smaller number of users. "Bread crumbs" is an addition to the structure of the site, which is useful both for users, and for the resource itself and its promotion in the top.

Let's recollect a fairy tale ...

In order to clearly understand what the significance of this navigation is, it is enough to recall again the fairy tale "Grenzel and Gretel": scattered bread crumbs are the way home, to the main page, to the point of reference. Without these tips, the young characters of the tale would never have gotten rid of the witch and returned home, and in the situation with the site everything is exactly the same. Without this navigation, there is no single multi-page resource.

Navigation functions

The above tasks are the main functions of the plug-in, but it has a number of other tasks that it solves. Navigation "bread crumbs" has a number of functions:

• Simplifies site navigation for the user.
• Gives an additional signal to different search engines about the structure of the site.
• Allows the formation of competent linking.
• Creates easy-to-read snippets in search engines.
• Also contributes to the correct transfer of anchor weight. As an example, "bread crumbs" are taken, for example "Antivirus for laptops", which lead to a certain page of the site. This gives a signal to the search system that on this page the "Antiviruses for laptops" are located.

Equipping such a resource with a plug-in is a necessary part, and if you need to develop an information website and promote it in order to receive revenue, then you should go deeper into the work of the bread crumbs system on the site. And for what they are needed, we found out, and how they work, is also understandable, but here comes another question: what are the general rules for their construction?

How to make bread crumbs? Basic structures

Like any other system, this one has its own type of construction. By the way, there are only three main types of construction for sites of different subjects:

1. For pages where the categories of the catalog are placed.
2. For cards of goods.
3. For all other pages of the resource.

Types of construction, or How to independently fill the module in the system?

Each of these types has its own construction. Briefly, each system looks like this:

1. For pages in which there will be information of the catalog about its categories, there should be here such structure:

Main page -> {Name of the level category 1} -> Other pages -> {Name of the level category n}.

2. For cards of goods, a similar system of construction works:

Home -> {Name of the level category 1} -> ... -> {Name of the level category n} -> {Product name}.

3. For the last type of construction (other sites), the following structure works:

Main page of the portal -> {Title of any section of level 1} -> All other sections -> {Title of section of level n}.

Popular plugins with this navigation

The wordpress blog is the most popular among developers of the site, it is easy to use and easy to modify, gives in to all sorts of changes, but if we talk about popular plugins, then wordpress "bread crumbs" is most relevant for using with such names: Breadcrumb NavXT and Instant Breadcrumbs. In principle, the work of these two plug-ins is the same, and they do not require any additional settings. Their feature is that they automatically build a navigation menu. They are popular among beginners, as there is no special zamorochennosti, but for complex and volumetric projects are absolutely not suitable. Those who want to use "bread crumbs" in joomla, you need to know the features of the site and how new plug-ins will work on it. To add them to this site, you need to find the "Navigation Settings" cell and click once on it. Then you should publish the module on the right pages of the site, having the information in the right paragraphs, which leads to the main page of the site. In principle, this is the only option for installing this navigation on the joomla site, but the difference from the plugins in wordpress is that they can be customized, and that's how it all happens in different ways. From how this plug-in will be configured, indexing in the search engines will depend.

A well thought out structure of the site is the key to the success of its promotion

Considering the example of "bread crumbs" and the peculiarity of their work (settings, type of installation and function of work), it remains to draw a line under the basic functions of this indispensable plug-in. So, let's take for example a site that completely lacks this kind of navigation. At the same time, the portal is huge, and its focus is on sales. The catalog includes hundreds of items, high quality goods, the price is low - everything should attract users, and the flow of visitors must increase daily. But what happens in this situation? If you look at the statistics, then, on the contrary, this portal can have a low gain from the day of its work, and then generally go down to zero. The reason is simple: when we go to the store, we only know that there is sausage on one display and milk on the other, but to reach all the products, we need to go to the right window, and if this is not possible, the buyer will leave With what, looking only at the main entrance of the store. Without navigation, the ability to go from one display case to another user will simply not be interesting to be in such a place, and this is a very vivid example of how "bread crumbs" work in the site system.

Finding the right plugin

Not all website owners give their work to the promotion of their resources to professional IT managers. Often they do their own work on its modernization and therefore do not have in the arsenal of knowledge of the place where you can find the necessary plug-ins, so there is one micro-markup. "Bread crumbs" on the web are huge, and you can find this navigation for almost any working site. The greatest amount of navigation of this plan is available on wordpress, so you can take them on the site of this portal. The same situation with plug-ins for other sites: if you need something, namely "bread crumbs", then the official site of the site provides its users with all the necessary designs.

Navigation, without which not to be

In general, the history of navigation of such a plan has appeared a very long time, since the appearance of online stores. If the one-page resources could still somehow exist without them, then the services, which in all possible ways earned on advertising and clients, simply perished without "bread crumbs." Who was the first creator of this navigation is not known, but the fact that he promoted the Network to a huge step forward is obvious. No site today does not do without navigation, even the weather forecast we can look at by scrolling through the pages (for example, choosing an hourly forecast).

Summarize

So, let's draw a line under all these. This navigation is not just a decoration on the site, but a necessary and indispensable design. Without its presence the resource will be bent, cease to function properly and will soon cease to exist. Even before launching the portal, you should carefully consider the operation of navigation, choose the right module. After all, if there is a constant expansion of the directory, then you should choose powerful plug-ins, not standard ones, which have automatic settings and are unchanged. It is better to spend an hour or two on searching for a quality module before the service starts, than weeks and months for restoring the resource rating in search engines, supplementing it with new modules. Everything that is built into the structure of the site at the beginning, is faster promoted and indexed, therefore the total work of the resource should be given much more time than it seems.

Just a fairy tale about Grensel and Gretel, and how much sense it has for both normal life situations and for the work of Internet resources. These characters laid the foundation for the services that today have become global sales giants. Before you start developing sites, it's worth looking at the largest resources and online stores, where there are more than a million products. A well thought-out system will allow you to understand all the details of navigation and its features.