Do you want to show breadcrumb in your WordPress site as well as Google Search Results?
If yes, you are in the right place. In this post, I will be sharing how to add breadcrumbs in WordPress that shows in Google search results.
If you are still wondering what breadcrumb is, here is the answer for you.
Breadcrumb is a navigation system that allows a user to track their path from where they are on a website to the homepage of the website. It helps users to navigate around the site and helps search engines to understand the structure of your site.
The good news is, Google shows breadcrumbs below the meta title in the search results. It can increase your CTR.

-
Save
Now let’s see how to add breadcrumbs in WordPress.
How to Add Breadcrumbs in WordPress
At first, you need to check if there is any option in your theme to display breadcrumbs. For example, I am using Thrive Themes and it has a built-in option for displaying breadcrumbs.
If you are using Thrive Themes, go to Thrive Themes Options Panel and enable breadcrumbs from General Setting.

-
Save
If your theme doesn’t have any such option, don’t worry. Like everything, we will do it by using a plugin.
Though there are some dedicated plugins for showing breadcrumbs only like Breadcrumb NavXT, I’d recommend you to use Yoast SEO plugin. Cause it’s the best WordPress SEO plugin.
Now you need to install and active Yoast SEO plugin. I’ve already talked about how to setup Yoast SEO plugin.
Once you’ve activated the plugin, go to WordPress Admin Panel > SEO (1) > Advanced (2) and enable breadcrumbs (3). Then you will find several options. I think default options are good. You don’t need to change anything here.

-
Save
Then click on “Save Change”.
Now go to a single post to check whether the breadcrumb is showing or not. The breadcrumbs will be something like this:

-
Save
If Yoast SEO Breadcrumbs is not working, you need to add a code to your WordPress theme. Just add the following code in your theme’s header.php file. You should add the code at the end of the file.
[code]
<?php if ( function_exists('yoast_breadcrumb') ) { yoast_breadcrumb('<p id="breadcrumbs">','</p>'); } ?>
[/code]
After adding the code, you will see the breadcrumbs in action.
However, Google might take some times to show the breadcrumbs on search results.
Conclusion
Hope this post helped you to show breadcrumbs in Google search results. If you have faced any issues, let us know via comment.
If you found this post useful, help me by sharing this post on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+.
20 Comments
I have a theme that has the option to enable breadcrumbs. Should I also enable breadcrumbs option in Yoast SEO so that they are shown on search results or just the theme option would do it?
Just theme option will do it.
I am using yoast plugin to show breadcrumbs on my website. It is working fine for the website and breadcrumbs are showing on every page and post but the problem is with the search engines. I want it to work for the search engines also. Please help.
It takes time to show breadcrumbs on Google search.
Let me know, how to enable breadcrumbs by using Yoast plugin, because they provide a box for it.
I am using Genesis for my wordpress blog. So can you please explain, how to implement this code in it?
Use this plugin: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/rdfa-breadcrumb/
The plugin installation says to add a code into template files.. In which file I want to add?
Hi Istiak, you are doing good job!
I read each and every post for SEO and blogging!
It’s really helpful. Keep it up! :)
Glad to know you find them helpful.
Thanks for this helpful knowledge, I did not try this but I will, before this I just cheked my blog in webmster
”
Check your URL on http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets
”
it is taking long time to load: “The server at http://www.tutorz8.com is taking too long to respond.” this message showing.
Can you help me in this regards
thanks
hi thanks for the tutorial….how long it will take to show bread crumbs in search results…? because i have added the code snippet(in thesis theme) but could not get it in the search results.
Check your URL on http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets
Thank u Istiak for sharing such a wonderful hack. I will try this on my blog.
Awesome post, it is really useful. Well yes, too many plugins can affect the site’s loading speed, so using the code may be a good idea. But if one doesn’t want to mess up with the code, then using a plugin (RDFa Breadcrumb) will be better. Thanks Istiak for sharing this info :)
Agree with you. Thanks for stopping by.
Good tutorial, but i prefer and use RDFa Breadcrumb plugin.
Hey DRG, Thanks for stopping by. Yeah it's good to use the plugin if you hate messing around with the codes. But it's always better to play with the codes. Too many plugins can make your blog slow.
Hmm yeah.! what you say is also true..! loading plugins will increase page load time.
Yeah that’s true. You can check how to Speed up your WordPress Blog using .htaccess