Do you want to display breadcrumbs navigation links on your WordPress site? Breadcrumb navigation is a secondary navigation system that tells users where they are on a website relative to the homepage. This article will show you how to display breadcrumbs navigation links in WordPress for free in this simple usage guide & tutorial with the best plugins.
You would think that adding such an integrated system of motivation to your website would be difficult, but actually, it is pretty simple with the use of a plugin.
If you use the Yoast SEO plugin, you have a head start because breadcrumbs functionality is already built into Yoast! And adding breadcrumbs through Yoast is one of the preferred methods out there. Aside from Yoast SEO, The plugin Breadcrumb NavXT is another excellent option that is highly customizable and works well with our themes.
Yoast Plugin Usage: Breadcrumbs WordPress Guide
To add breadcrumbs to your WordPress Website using Yoast SEO, you must tackle three simple steps: Install and Activate the Yoast SEO Plugin. Adding the Breadcrumbs code snippet to your WordPress Theme. Enable/configure the Yoast Breadcrumbs in the plugin settings.
To install the Yoast SEO plugin, go to your WordPress Dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New. Then search for the WordPress repository for “Yoast.” When you see the Yoast SEO plugin, click to install and activate the plugin.
Breadcrumbs Code Snippet to your Child Theme
Next, we must add a short code snippet to your WordPress theme files. So, if you haven’t already, creating a child theme is a good idea. For this example, I will show you how to add the code snippet to the default TwentyNineteen WordPress Theme.
You can add the code to any theme file/template, but for the most part, you will want to add it to your single.php file (to show up on all posts), page.php file (to show up on all pages), or to your header.php file (to show up sitewide).
For this example, I will add the breadcrumbs code to the header.php file of my child theme. Once you copy over the header.php file from the parent theme, open to edit the file in a code editor of your choice.
Then, at the bottom of the header.php file, add the following PHP snippet provided by Yoast to activate the functionality: This will display breadcrumbs directly under the header of all pages, a typical placement for breadcrumbs. Keep reading to understand how to display breadcrumbs navigation links in WordPress for free in this simple usage guide & tutorial with the best plugins.
Yoast Plugin Breadcrumbs
Once the code snippet has been added to your WordPress Child theme, you only have to activate the Breadcrumbs in the Yoast SEO plugin settings. To do this, go to your WordPress Dashboard, navigate to SEO > Search Appearance, and click the tab. Under the settings, enable breadcrumbs by toggling the option to “enabled.”
Then you can configure the breadcrumb settings according to your needs. You may also want to choose a taxonomy to show in breadcrumbs for your post. For this example, I will set my posts to show categories in the breadcrumbs. Now let’s go ahead and check out what the breadcrumbs look like on one of the posts I created in the TwentyNineteen theme.
This particular post example has a category (“WordPress”) and a parent category (“Web Design”) to show you the category taxonomy of the breadcrumbs that I chose in the breadcrumbs settings.
You may need to adjust the style of your breadcrumbs using some external CSS. You can use the CSS ID “breadcrumbs” included in the PHP code to do that. Open the style.css file of your Child Theme (or add it in the Theme Customizer under Additional CSS).
Breadcrumb NavXT Usage: Breadcrumbs WordPress Guide
If you don’t want to install Yoast SEO or are looking for another simple option, the Breadcrumb NavXT plugin is an excellent choice. To install the plugin, navigate to your WordPress Dashboard and Plugins > Add New. Then search the WordPress repository for “breadcrumb navxt”. Once you see the plugin, click to install and activate it.
To call the breadcrumbs so that they display on your website, you can use the built-in Breadcrumb NavXT widget provided on the widgets page. This will allow you to drag the widget into the various widget areas provided by your theme.
To do this, go to your WordPress Dashboard and navigate to Appearance > Widgets. Then drag the widget over to the widget area of your choice and update the widget settings. Like the Yoast Breadcrumb example, you can call the breadcrumb trail to your site by adding the code to your child’s theme.
Setting Breadcrumbs using the plugin
The Breadcrumb NavXT plugin has some powerful options for configuring your breadcrumbs. You can customize the entire template of your breadcrumbs for different taxonomies and much more. You can access these settings from your WordPress Dashboard by navigating to Settings > Breadcrumb NavXT.
Customize
If you want to style the breadcrumbs, you can target the class called “breadcrumbs,” that is included in the code. Add the following CSS to your child theme’s style.css file or the theme customizer’s additional CSS.
Top 10 Best Free breadcrumb WordPress Plugins List
- Yoast SEO: One of WordPress’s most popular SEO plugins, Yoast SEO includes breadcrumb functionality.
- Breadcrumb NavXT: This plugin is designed specifically for creating customizable breadcrumbs.
- NavXT Breadcrumbs: A lightweight and easy-to-use plugin that lets you easily create breadcrumbs.
- WP SEO Structured Data Schema: A plugin that adds structured data to your website to help search engines understand the content and structure of your site, including breadcrumbs.
- Rank Math: Another popular SEO plugin that includes breadcrumb functionality.
- SEOPress: A powerful all-in-one SEO plugin that also includes breadcrumb functionality.
- All in One SEO Pack: Another all-in-one SEO plugin that includes breadcrumb functionality.
- Schema Pro: A premium plugin that lets you create structured data for your site, including breadcrumbs.
- The SEO Framework: A lightweight SEO plugin that includes breadcrumb functionality.
- Jetpack by WordPress.com: A popular plugin with a range of features, including breadcrumbs.
Breadcrumbs WordPress Usage Guide: Conclusions
Breadcrumbs are an essential part of a website both for usability and SEO. So if you are considering adding breadcrumbs to your WordPress site, I suggest you start with the methods provided by the plugins mentioned in this article (Yoast SEO and Breadcrumb NavXT).
It makes the most sense to use Yoast breadcrumbs if you are already taking advantage of their SEO plugin since it is already at your disposal.
However, Breadcrumb NavXT is a highly customizable option as well. Sure, you may have to access your theme files, but all in all, the process is a simple one. If anything, I hope this helps ease the pain of getting breadcrumbs on your WordPress site. I hope this posts helps you on how to display breadcrumbs navigation links in WordPress for free in this simple usage guide & tutorial with the best plugins.