Google breadcrumb structured data

Google breadcrumb structured data,
as documented

The BreadcrumbList and ListItem rules Google documents, in Google's own words. Verified from Google's page on 2026-10-07.

Google says it uses breadcrumb markup in the body of a web page to categorize the information from the page in search results. This page lists the rules Google documents for BreadcrumbList and ListItem, with the wording taken from Google's page.

What Google documents

Topic	What Google says	Source
What it does	“Google Search uses breadcrumb markup in the body of a web page to categorize the information from the page in search results.”	Google docs Verified 2026-10-07
Eligibility	“You must follow these guidelines to be eligible to appear with breadcrumbs in Google Search.”	Google docs Verified 2026-10-07
What the trail should be	“We recommend providing breadcrumbs that represent a typical user path to a page, instead of mirroring the URL structure.”	Google docs Verified 2026-10-07
Top level and the page itself	“It is not required to include a breadcrumb ListItem for the top level path (your site's domain or host name), nor for the page itself.”	Google docs Verified 2026-10-07
Minimum size	“define a BreadcrumbList that contains at least two ListItems.”	Google docs Verified 2026-10-07
Required properties	“You must include the required properties for your content to be eligible for display with breadcrumbs.”Google's required properties: itemListElement on BreadcrumbList, and item, name and position on ListItem, with the exceptions described in the rows below.	Google docs Verified 2026-10-07
itemListElement	“An array of breadcrumbs listed in a specific order. Specify each breadcrumb with a ListItem.”	Google docs Verified 2026-10-07
position	“The position of the breadcrumb in the breadcrumb trail. Position 1 signifies the beginning of the trail.”	Google docs Verified 2026-10-07
name	“The title of the breadcrumb displayed for the user.”Google: if you use a Thing with a name instead of a URL to specify item, then name is not required.	Google docs Verified 2026-10-07
item	“The URL to the webpage that represents the breadcrumb.”Google: specify it as a URL, or as a Thing using @id (JSON-LD), href or itemid (Microdata), or about, href or resource (RDFa).	Google docs Verified 2026-10-07
Last item	“If the breadcrumb is the last item in the breadcrumb trail, item is not required. If item isn't included for the last item, Google uses the URL of the containing page.”	Google docs Verified 2026-10-07
Several trails	“If there are multiple ways to navigate to a page on your site, you can specify multiple breadcrumb trails for a single page.”	Google docs Verified 2026-10-07
Old markup	“Data-vocabulary.org markup is no longer eligible for Google rich result features.”	Google docs Verified 2026-10-07
Manual action	“If Google detects that some of the markup on your pages may be using techniques that are outside our structured data guidelines, your site may receive a manual action.”	Google docs Verified 2026-10-07
Testing	“Validate your code using the Rich Results Test and fix any critical errors.”	Google docs Verified 2026-10-07
Monitoring	“After Google has indexed your pages, look for issues using the relevant Rich result status report.”	Google docs Verified 2026-10-07

Read on 2026-10-07. Google's breadcrumb structured data page showed "Last updated 2026-09-08 UTC". Notes under a quote are close paraphrases of the same page. This page covers only what Google documents.

Examples

Google's own JSON-LD example for the trail Books, Science Fiction, Award Winners. The last item has no item URL, so Google uses the URL of the containing page.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
  "itemListElement": [{
    "@type": "ListItem",
    "position": 1,
    "name": "Books",
    "item": "https://example.com/books"
  },{
    "@type": "ListItem",
    "position": 2,
    "name": "Science Fiction",
    "item": "https://example.com/books/sciencefiction"
  },{
    "@type": "ListItem",
    "position": 3,
    "name": "Award Winners"
  }]
}

Type your trail and copy the JSON-LD with the free breadcrumb schema generator, or use the schema markup generator for other types, then check a page with the JSON-LD checker. For the general rules, see Google's structured data guidelines and which structured data Google still shows.

Rules to remember

Google says a BreadcrumbList must contain at least two ListItems.
Google says the item URL is not required for the last breadcrumb, and it then uses the URL of the containing page.
Google recommends breadcrumbs that represent a typical user path, not a mirror of the URL structure.

URLs and their structure: Google URL structure guidelines.

Internal links that carry the trail: Google link best practices.

The canonical URL that item should point at: Google canonical URL signals.

Questions

How many items must a breadcrumb trail have?

Google says to define a BreadcrumbList that contains at least two ListItems.

Do I need to list my homepage or the current page?

No. Google says it is not required to include a breadcrumb ListItem for the top level path (your site's domain or host name), nor for the page itself.

Which properties are required?

itemListElement on the BreadcrumbList, and item, name and position on each ListItem. Google makes exceptions: item is not required for the last item (Google uses the URL of the containing page), and name is not required if item is a Thing with a name.

Should the breadcrumb match my URL path?

Google recommends breadcrumbs that represent a typical user path to a page, instead of mirroring the URL structure.

Can a page have more than one trail?

Yes. Google says that if there are multiple ways to navigate to a page you can specify multiple breadcrumb trails for a single page.

Does data-vocabulary.org markup still work?

Not for rich results. Google says data-vocabulary.org markup is no longer eligible for Google rich result features.

How current is this page?

Every row was read from Google's breadcrumb structured data page on 2026-10-07, which showed a last-updated date of 2026-09-08 UTC. Google can change its documentation, so treat the linked page as the final word.

Sources

Breadcrumb (BreadcrumbList) structured data (Google Search Central), read on 2026-10-07

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