BreadcrumbList schema: Crawl Audit check 12

Short answer: BreadcrumbList markup describes where a page sits in your site, for example Home, then Services, then AI visibility. Google uses it to show a path instead of a raw URL in search results, but since January 2025 only on desktop. It also gives any machine reading the page a clear map of your site's structure. Crawl Audit check 12 warns on every page that doesn't have it.

What Crawl Audit checks

• Pass: the page has a BreadcrumbList node, in JSON-LD or microdata.
• Warning: it doesn't. Unlike the product or FAQ checks, this one applies to every page.

On a homepage the warning matters least. A homepage is the top of the path, and Google needs at least two items for a valid breadcrumb, so there's little to show there.

What Google does with it now

On 23 January 2025 Google said it was "rolling out a change to no longer show breadcrumbs on mobile search results", and that "they continue to appear on desktop search results." The documentation now says the feature "is available on desktop in all regions and languages".

The rules for a valid BreadcrumbList, from Google's documentation:

• At least two ListItems.
• Each ListItem needs a position and a name, and an item (the URL). The last item, the current page, can leave out item.

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
  "itemListElement": [
    { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Books", "item": "https://example.com/books" },
    { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Award Winners" }
  ]
}
</script>

Match the markup to a breadcrumb people can see. This page has one at the top: Home, then Crawl Audit checks, then this check. The markup says the same thing.

How to add it on your platform

• WordPress: most SEO plugins can output breadcrumb markup and a visible breadcrumb trail. Turn on the visible trail in your plugin or theme, then check one inner page in Google's Rich Results Test to confirm a BreadcrumbList appears.
• Shopify, Wix and Squarespace: whether breadcrumbs appear depends on your theme or template. Run an inner page through the Rich Results Test. If no BreadcrumbList appears, add one as custom markup where the platform allows it. Wix allows this under the page's Advanced SEO › Structured Data Markup.
• Next.js: build the list from the route segments, so every new page gets a correct breadcrumb without extra work.

Common mistakes

• A single-item breadcrumb. Google needs at least two.
• Positions that don't start at 1, or skip numbers.
• A breadcrumb that follows the URL instead of the site, such as /p/123 becoming "P". Use names a person would recognise.
• Markup that disagrees with the visible trail. Keep them the same.

Sources

• Google Search Central blog, Simplifying breadcrumbs in mobile search results, 23 January 2025.
• Google Search Central, Breadcrumb structured data (updated 8 September 2026), checked 3 October 2026.
• Wix, Adding structured data markup.