GlossarySEO
What is breadcrumb schema?
Also called: BreadcrumbList, breadcrumb structured data, breadcrumb markup
Definition
Breadcrumb schema is BreadcrumbList structured data that describes a page's position in the site hierarchy as an ordered list of links, which Google can show in place of the URL in results.
Breadcrumb schema, explained
The markup is a BreadcrumbList with an itemListElement array of ListItem entries. Google's breadcrumb docs require each item to have a position (starting at 1), a name and an item URL. The last item, the current page, doesn't need an item; if it's missing, Google uses the URL of the page containing the markup.
Google recommends breadcrumbs that represent a typical user path to the page rather than mirroring the URL structure. That's useful when your URLs are flat, like /glossary/crawl-budget, but the real hierarchy has more levels, or when URLs contain IDs. A page can also have more than one trail, each as its own BreadcrumbList, when it genuinely sits in several places.
Keep the markup and the visible breadcrumbs in sync. Structured data is supposed to describe what users can see, and a trail that exists only in JSON-LD is a mismatch. Generating both from the same data avoids drift. Google's documentation currently says breadcrumbs appear in search results on desktop, so on mobile you may see only the domain.
It's one of the simplest structured data types to add and one of the least likely to cause problems. If your site has any hierarchy at all, it's worth adding sitewide, generated by the same component that renders the visible trail.
Why it matters for founders
Breadcrumb markup is low-effort, low-risk and makes your listing's path clearer on desktop. It also reinforces your site structure for search engines.
Example
Every glossary page outputs a BreadcrumbList with "Glossary" at position 1 linking to /glossary and the term name at position 2, matching the visible breadcrumb above the heading.
Common mistakes
- Markup that doesn't match the visible breadcrumbs.
- Relative URLs in
item. - Positions that don't start at 1 or skip numbers.
- Including the homepage crumb inconsistently across templates.
Sources
Checked
Related terms
- BreadcrumbsBreadcrumbs are a row of links, like Home › Glossary › Crawl budget, that shows where a page sits in a site's hierarchy. They help visitors move up a level and help search engines understand structure.
- Structured data (JSON-LD)Structured data is machine-readable information about a page, usually written as JSON-LD using the schema.org vocabulary. It helps search engines understand what a page is about and can make it eligible for rich results.
- JSON-LDJSON-LD is a way of writing structured data as a JSON object inside a
<script type="application/ld+json">tag. It's the format Google recommends for Schema.org markup. - Site architectureSite architecture is how a website's pages are organized and linked: the hierarchy of sections, the URL structure and the internal links between them. Good architecture helps crawlers and people find every important page quickly.