# Breadcrumb structure

Canonical HTML: /atlas/breadcrumbs
Atlas version: atlas-2026-07-28-v1
Category: Content structure for machines

## Definition

Breadcrumbs expose a page’s location in an information hierarchy.

## How it works

Crawlable breadcrumb links strengthen category paths, while matching BreadcrumbList structured data gives machines an explicit ordered trail.

## How to validate it

Verify that every breadcrumb URL resolves, uses the preferred canonical, and matches the hierarchy represented by navigation and content.

## Common failure

Generating breadcrumbs from arbitrary URL segments can publish meaningless labels and nonexistent parent pages.

## Related topics

- [Structured data](/atlas/structured-data)
- [Pagination](/atlas/pagination)