Google switching URLs for Breadcrumbs

[discxpress]

Hello,

 

This has been into play for awhile now but I just discovered that Google is gradually moving away from displaying the page link:

http://www.mysite.com/category 1/category 2/product.html

to displaying the breadcrumb (US only):

Home > Category 1 > Category 2 > Product Name

The logic behind using the breadcrumb makes sense. It more clearly informs the searcher of what that page is about than a link that's a mile long. Of course other aspects of SEO must not be ignored but this topic is to focus on breadcrumbs and the impact on SEO. I noticed three things about the pages already in the search results with the breadcrumbs:

 

A. They rank higher 

B. Indeed they are more clarifying than urls

C. Furthermore, they're more easy on the eyes.

 

With all that in mind, @@burt and @@Jack_mcs have highly regarded SEO modules which help keep OSC shop owners in the race relating to ever evolving SEO world.

 

My questions are with the implementation of schema markup in our shops, does that address this situation or does more need to be done? Or do we just have to wait on Google as normal?

 

Please post your opinions and comments to help educate and elaborate.

 

Thanks for your thoughts.

[burt]

@@discxpress the only thing you need to do is add the necessary markup (then test it in the Google testing tool) and wait...

 

Here is the "Samsung Galaxy" page example.  Look to the column on the right and view the BreadCrumbList area.

 

If you are on the Bootstrapped osCommerce (and up to date), you need do nothing as this is built in.  See https://github.com/gburton/Responsive-osCommerce/commits/master/includes/classes/breadcrumb.phpwhere this functionality was added at the end of last year.  This means that everyone using at least "Gold" version has it...

[discxpress]

@@burt

 

That's the response I was looking for. I have bootstrap with the schema markup already incorporated. I was wondering as many of us are concerned about SEO. While this seems minor to some, it can be a game changer.

 

I did a search for some keywords that I'm ranking for and over 90% of the sites that ranked above me were displaying the new breadcrumb structure. There were even some that I never heard of. 

 

What's your take on the model number versus the product name displaying in the breadcrumb trail? About 2 days ago, I removed the model number from the breadcrumb trail and replaced it with the product name. I've seen some positive results but maybe too early to tell. About 800-1300 more pages show up in the structured data section in webmaster tools.

 

Thanks

[burt]

That markup was not one of the main aims of the Responsive build, but it is an important part.  

Any site that does not have it...will get beaten by a site that does.

 

As for product name in the Breadcrumb.  In my opinion, more useful than model.

[discxpress]

@@burt

I performed that test on one of my product pages and the result is not good. There are 6 errors related to title and url.

https://developers.google.com/structured-data/testing-tool?url=http%253A%252F%252Fbtownmedia.com%252F253800-one-red-edition-calvin-klein-men-p-548959.html

Is that related to seo input boxes when creating a new category and a new product? I'm glad to catch that so it can be addressed. How can I correct this?

Thanks

[discxpress]

@@burt

 

I performed that test on one of my product pages and the result is not good. There are 6 errors related to title and url.

 

https://developers.google.com/structured-data/testing-tool?url=http%253A%252F%252Fbtownmedia.com%252F253800-one-red-edition-calvin-klein-men-p-548959.html

 

Is that related to seo input boxes when creating a new category and a new product? I'm glad to catch that so it can be addressed. How can I correct this?

 

Thanks

@@burt

 

If I hadn't re-read your post, I'd still be lost. So I started testing and investigating and then:

 

I used your December 30, 2014 commit and it cleared up the errors!!!!!!!  Except one title error. However, I use your Amy template and glyphicon-home is used in place of "Home".

 

Is that something that'll cause an issue?   

 

Thanks.

[Hotclutch]

Check your english.php, a few lines down from top:

 

define('HEADER_TITLE_TOP', '<i class="glyphicon glyphicon-home"><span class="sr-only">Home</span></i>');

[discxpress]

Check your english.php, a few lines down from top:

 

define('HEADER_TITLE_TOP', '<i class="glyphicon glyphicon-home"><span class="sr-only">Home</span></i>');

@@Hotclutch

 

I just done that like 3 minutes ago. Re-ran the test and got all good marks in the structured data test. Now I'll just wait on Google to re-crawl the pages and see what happens.

 

Thanks for chiming in!

[discxpress]

@@Hotclutch @@burt

 

Here's an update since July 17th. The following comments are due to my site's exclusive situation and results may vary for other websites in similar or different circumstances.

 

1. I read and re-read Gary's post above, then I located the 6 issues with breadcrumbs. I didn't catch that post's importance until the second time I read it. I used the linked breadcrumb.php from github and it cleared all the issues except 1. 

 

2. That one remaining issue was due to a glyphicon being used instead of text linking back to the home page. I corrected that by removing the glyphicon and placing actual text linking to the home page. Now all issues are resolved. 

 

3. On top of all that, I changed the breadcrumb from displaying the product's model number to displaying the product's name. There's some code in application_top dealing with breadcrumbs that must be changed to accomplish that. Instructions are here in the forums. A very simple fix. 

 

4. I generated fresh sitemaps and resubmitted them to both Google and Bing. This is to get the bots to re-crawl of course. Then I waited.

 

The following are the results of above efforts in 4 days:

 

A. Many more product, organization and breadcrumb items are in the structured data section in Webmaster Tools. 

 

B. Using the search operator, site:mysite.com, in Google to locate pages with the new breadcrumb display. Before the above changes, I had to click through 10 or 12 pages to find a page or two with the new breadcrumb display. After the changes, I see 3 or 4 per page in the first 10 pages. A huge improvement in 4 days!

 

However, this haven't translated into a significant organic traffic boost in that short amount of time. It may take more time to increase rankings of those pages. We all know that's not a guarantee.

 

My conclusion is that if schema markup is properly applied to your website, you'll get more of your website with Google Rich Snippets and breadcrumbs displayed in the search results. 

 

P.S. I forgot to mention that if you use the sie:mysite.com operator, you'll notice that if the product pages show the price and availability, it will likely show the breadcrumb also.

 

Thanks for reading and I hope this helps someone.

[burt]

Schema/Microdata is more important than any of the "old" ideas of SEO (such as meta description and keywords and so on).

 

All the tools anyone needs to enable loads of cool Schema/Microdata stuff is available.

 

Thanks for the followup post @@discxpress

[burt]

Note also that the Product Reviews pages are fully Schema'd

 

https://developers.google.com/structured-data/testing-tool?url=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.template.me.uk%252F234bs3%252Fproduct_reviews.php%253Fproducts_id%253D19

 

Click the "product" box at the right hand column.

 

The work done in the BS build with regards to Schema/Mdata, was incredibly difficult to get correct - 4 days worth of testing and tweaking and testing more.  No one seems to go much deep into the code that was made, so I am very glad that you are @@discxpress

[burt]

As is the Product Page (product_info.php)

[Mort-lemur]

Is there anything available on markups for the 2.3.4 non BS versions of OSC?

 

Thanks

[clustersolutions]

The writing is on the wall if you look Google's feed spec...that's the way to real time inventories...

 

 

Schema/Microdata is more important than any of the "old" ideas of SEO (such as meta description and keywords and so on).

 

All the tools anyone needs to enable loads of cool Schema/Microdata stuff is available.

 

Thanks for the followup post @@discxpress

[burt]

The writing is on the wall if you look Google's feed spec...that's the way to real time inventories...

 

For those whom have no clue, feel free to explain ;)

[clustersolutions]

Well...Froggle feed update was weeks or months. Then PLA feed was days and pushing for real time via schema/microdata. The main thing was for in stock. The last time I updated my feed it had and option to use schema/microdata to offer that data. Real-time is good as it gives better control on what should be in the ad. It sucks when you sold something that was out of stock and had to pay for the ad cost.

 

 

For those whom have no clue, feel free to explain ;)

[discxpress]

@@clustersolutions I read that as well. If the option is turned on in Google Shopping then Google will crawl your product pages to look for schema/markup data. They will update information in real time. Is that option in lieu of uploading a fresh data feed? I don't recall schema/markup having any timestamp capabilities. Unless I missed it.

 

@@burt I just noticed Bing and Yahoo also use the new breadcrumb display. So it's good that oscommerce can evolve in that sense. Thanks to your hard work.

 

Since I made those changes mentioned in the above post, my index stats and structured data numbers are improving steadily. Also, my average position in the SERPs are looking good for mobile devices and tablets. Over the last 28 days, mobile has averaged at 16, tablets at 18.5 and Desktop 55.5. That puzzles me. The impressions for desktops are 9x greater than mobile and 30x greater than tablets. But the click through rate for desktop suck compared to mobile and tablet. Which is proof that the mobile update was kind to me and Responsive OSC is definitely the way to go.

 

I just don't get that. If I can improve my click through for desktop, then life will be a little better. Is SEO for desktops different than mobile?

 

Thanks for reading.

[burt]

Is SEO for desktops different than mobile?

On Site = No

 

Off Site ...

 

There are far far FAR less mobile-friendly shops, so your site (as it is mobile friendly) will be much higher in the mobile SERPS as you have lots less competition.

 

Think of it maybe a bit like a Marathon...on a desktop you and everyone else starts at the 26 mile start line...on mobile you start 13 miles in ...

[clustersolutions]

@@discxpress, I am not sure of the details. I recall it said it was for in between uploads. I will look into it more as there is a required feed update by Sep that I will have to do...

 

I imagine Google will decide on which one to use since they will have the upload and crawl timestamps. One thing I can say for sure they would not want everyone to update their feeds too frequently for sure. I also see schema/microdata can be another way to EDI. I am working with a vendor on that right now...one more thing, some security may be necessary as not everyone would like to open up their sensitive inventory data for competition reason...

[discxpress]

@@burt In the past 24 hours, I've noticed "Website" in the Structured Data area of webmaster tools. Schema.org description is kind of vague to me.

 

When you have a chance, please explain it's significance. (Just for my information)

 

Thanks

[burt]

I have today updated the breadcrumb from "data vocabulary" (old style Microdata) to Schema (new style Microdata).  

 

You (and anyone else interested) might want to make that change:  https://github.com/gburton/Responsive-osCommerce/pull/209/files

[burt]

@@burt In the past 24 hours, I've noticed "Website" in the Structured Data area of webmaster tools. Schema.org description is kind of vague to me.

 

When you have a chance, please explain it's significance. (Just for my information)

 

Thanks

 

 

Schema is a joint effort by (I think) Goog, Yahoo and Bing to make a system that can be used by webmasters to make information available to sites that can then use it for their own purposes.  Eg;  google makes breadcrumbs.  Pinterest makes Rich Pins,  and so on.  

[douglaswalker]

Thanks Gary

have added the new code and tested 

It passed Google developer test

Will see what happens in webmaster tools... Data vocab also worked no problem. Is the update just moving toward a new standard

Doug :thumbsup:

[douglaswalker]

New Schema is being indexed and showing up in webmaster tools very nicely

thank-you

[discxpress]

@@douglaswalker

 

I'm seeing the same results. The very next day new items popped up in Structured Data