{"id":22991,"date":"2012-02-27T21:48:06","date_gmt":"2012-02-27T16:18:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/?p=22991"},"modified":"2026-10-13T13:40:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T08:10:15","slug":"wordpress-seo-breadcrumbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2012\/02\/wordpress-seo-breadcrumbs\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Add WordPress SEO Breadcrumbs (Rank Math, Yoast, Themes)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>How do you add WordPress SEO breadcrumbs? Breadcrumbs are the small trail of links at the top of a post, like Home &gt; Tutorials &gt; WordPress, that show readers where they are and help search engines understand your site structure. When we added them to QuickOnlineTips years ago, Google started showing our category trail in search results. Here is how to add <strong>WordPress SEO breadcrumbs<\/strong> in 2026, and what changed in Google.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-64094\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/wordpress-seo-breadcrumbs-1024x538.webp\" alt=\"WordPress SEO breadcrumbs\" width=\"1024\" height=\"538\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/wordpress-seo-breadcrumbs-1024x538.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/wordpress-seo-breadcrumbs-300x158.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/wordpress-seo-breadcrumbs-150x79.webp 150w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/wordpress-seo-breadcrumbs-768x403.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/wordpress-seo-breadcrumbs.webp 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Quick answer:<\/strong> Turn on breadcrumbs in your SEO plugin (Rank Math: General Settings &gt; Breadcrumbs; Yoast: Settings &gt; Advanced &gt; Breadcrumbs) or your theme (Kadence, Astra and others have a breadcrumb option), then show them above post titles with the plugin&#8217;s shortcode, block or theme setting. The plugin also adds BreadcrumbList schema. Test with Google&#8217;s Rich Results Test.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_89 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6af7c47d86227\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"ez-toc-cssicon\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #1a202c;color:#1a202c\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #1a202c;color:#1a202c\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6af7c47d86227\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2012\/02\/wordpress-seo-breadcrumbs\/#Why_add_breadcrumbs\" >Why add breadcrumbs?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2012\/02\/wordpress-seo-breadcrumbs\/#What_changed_in_Google_search\" >What changed in Google search<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2012\/02\/wordpress-seo-breadcrumbs\/#How_to_add_breadcrumbs_with_Rank_Math\" >How to add breadcrumbs with Rank Math<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2012\/02\/wordpress-seo-breadcrumbs\/#How_to_add_breadcrumbs_with_Yoast_SEO\" >How to add breadcrumbs with Yoast SEO<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2012\/02\/wordpress-seo-breadcrumbs\/#Theme_breadcrumbs\" >Theme breadcrumbs<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2012\/02\/wordpress-seo-breadcrumbs\/#Breadcrumb_best_practices\" >Breadcrumb best practices<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2012\/02\/wordpress-seo-breadcrumbs\/#FAQ\" >FAQ<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2012\/02\/wordpress-seo-breadcrumbs\/#Do_breadcrumbs_help_SEO\" >Do breadcrumbs help SEO?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2012\/02\/wordpress-seo-breadcrumbs\/#Why_are_my_breadcrumbs_not_showing_in_Google\" >Why are my breadcrumbs not showing in Google?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2012\/02\/wordpress-seo-breadcrumbs\/#Should_breadcrumbs_include_the_post_title\" >Should breadcrumbs include the post title?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_add_breadcrumbs\"><\/span>Why add breadcrumbs?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Readers can jump up to the category or home page in one click.<\/li>\n<li>They add useful internal links on every post.<\/li>\n<li>BreadcrumbList structured data tells Google how your pages fit together.<\/li>\n<li>On desktop, Google can show a breadcrumb trail instead of a long URL in results.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_changed_in_Google_search\"><\/span>What changed in Google search<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>In early 2025 Google stopped showing breadcrumb trails in mobile search results, showing just the site name and domain instead, because the trail was often cut off on small screens. Breadcrumbs still appear on desktop results, and the structured data is still used to understand your site. So breadcrumbs remain worth adding.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_add_breadcrumbs_with_Rank_Math\"><\/span>How to add breadcrumbs with Rank Math<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Go to <strong>Rank Math &gt; General Settings &gt; Breadcrumbs<\/strong> and turn on <strong>Enable breadcrumbs function<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Choose the separator, home label and whether to show the post title and category.<\/li>\n<li>Display them using your theme&#8217;s breadcrumb option, the <strong>Breadcrumbs<\/strong> block, or the shortcode <code><nav aria-label=\"breadcrumbs\" class=\"rank-math-breadcrumb\"><p><span class=\"last\">Home<\/span><\/p><\/nav><\/code>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_add_breadcrumbs_with_Yoast_SEO\"><\/span>How to add breadcrumbs with Yoast SEO<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Go to <strong>Yoast SEO &gt; Settings &gt; Advanced &gt; Breadcrumbs<\/strong> and enable them.<\/li>\n<li>Set the separator and anchor text, and choose which taxonomy to show for posts (usually Categories).<\/li>\n<li>Add the Yoast Breadcrumbs block, or place this in your theme template:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<pre><code>&lt;?php if ( function_exists( 'yoast_breadcrumb' ) ) {\n  yoast_breadcrumb( '&lt;p id=\"breadcrumbs\"&gt;', '&lt;\/p&gt;' );\n} ?&gt;<\/code><\/pre>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Theme_breadcrumbs\"><\/span>Theme breadcrumbs<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Many themes include breadcrumbs. In Kadence, go to <strong>Customize &gt; General &gt; Breadcrumbs<\/strong> and choose which pages show them. If your SEO plugin also outputs breadcrumbs, use only one so the schema is not duplicated.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Breadcrumb_best_practices\"><\/span>Breadcrumb best practices<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Keep a clean category structure; one main category per post works best. If tags and categories overlap, see how to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2020\/03\/convert-category-to-tags-wordpress\/\">convert categories to tags<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Use short category names so trails stay readable.<\/li>\n<li>Place breadcrumbs above the post title.<\/li>\n<li>Test a few URLs in Google&#8217;s Rich Results Test and check Search Console&#8217;s Breadcrumbs report.<\/li>\n<li>Also set your preferred <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2022\/12\/site-name-google-search\/\">site name in Google search<\/a>, which now shows on mobile instead of breadcrumbs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Choosing an SEO plugin? Compare the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2010\/02\/best-wordpress-seo-plugins\/\">best WordPress SEO plugins<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"FAQ\"><\/span>FAQ<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Do_breadcrumbs_help_SEO\"><\/span>Do breadcrumbs help SEO?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>They help with internal linking, user navigation and structured data. They are not a big ranking factor on their own.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_are_my_breadcrumbs_not_showing_in_Google\"><\/span>Why are my breadcrumbs not showing in Google?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Google no longer shows them on mobile, and on desktop it decides when to display them. Check that your schema is valid.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Should_breadcrumbs_include_the_post_title\"><\/span>Should breadcrumbs include the post title?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>It is optional. Many sites leave it out since the title is right below.<\/p>\n<p>Do you use breadcrumbs on your site? Tell us in the comments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How do you add WordPress SEO breadcrumbs? Breadcrumbs are the small trail of links at the top of a post,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":64094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,41],"tags":[49,17],"class_list":["post-22991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogging","category-search-engine-optimization","tag-tutorials","tag-wordpress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22991"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65422,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22991\/revisions\/65422"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}