A breadcrumb is a navigation aid that helps users understand and trace their path on a website. It is typically displayed as a horizontal list of links near the top of a webpage, showing the hierarchical structure of the site. Each breadcrumb link leads to a higher level of the site, allowing users to easily navigate back to previous sections.
For example, on an e-commerce site, breadcrumbs might look like this:
Home > Electronics > Mobile Phones > Smartphone XYZ.
This allows users to quickly return to any of the previous categories without having to use the back button. Breadcrumbs also help search engines understand the structure of a website, potentially improving SEO by providing additional internal linking and clarity of site organization.