Google has announced that it’s removing breadcrumbs from mobile search results to simplify how URLs appear.
On mobile, only the domain will now be displayed, while breadcrumbs will still appear in desktop search results.
What’s Changing?
Breadcrumbs, introduced in 2009 to show a site’s hierarchy in search results, will no longer be visible on mobile. Google says the feature isn’t as useful on smaller screens since it often gets cut off.
The visible URL will remain unchanged for desktop users, displaying both the domain and breadcrumb.
See the screenshot below for an example from Google’s blog post.
Screenshot from: developers.google.com/search/blog/2025/01/simplifying-breadcrumbs, January 2025.Why It Matters
Google wants to make mobile search results cleaner and easier to use. Because breadcrumbs weren’t providing much value on mobile due to truncation, mobile users will now only see the domain.
Do You Need to Do Anything?
If your site uses breadcrumb markup, there’s nothing you need to change. Google still supports breadcrumbs for desktop search results, and tools like the Breadcrumb Rich Result Report in Search Console and the Rich Results Test are unaffected.
While breadcrumbs are gone from mobile, they remain a valuable feature for desktop search.
Featured Image: Tada Images/Shutterstock
