Google Testing Search Results Without Breadcrumbs

Google is testing showing search results snippets without the breadcrumbs in the URL section of the snippet. Google has tested removing URLs and breadcrumbs completely before, but now Google is testing removing just the breadcrumb and leaving the URL.

This test was spotted by Akarsh Kavuttan who notified me of the test last week on X – here is one of his screenshots showing this:

Compare that to what I see:

Here are more screenshots:

Hey @rustybrick , I noticed the breadcrumb no longer appears for a bunch of keywords I monitor (US Geo). Any update on this? (These are not the home pages ranking)

cc: @brodieseo pic.twitter.com/8DE7b5L3PW

— Akarsh Kavuttan (@AkarshK10) August 27, 2024

Brodie Clark was able to replicate this as well:

Google is currently testing out the removal of breadcrumbs from snippets on desktop. Instead of showing the standard automatic breadcrumb treatment, they are showing only the domain name for sub-pages. I prefer having it personally. h/t @AkarshK10 https://t.co/d5ztTaCf7O pic.twitter.com/76Vswjm87h

— SERP Alert (@SERPalerts) August 29, 2024

I don’t think I care one way or another…

Forum discussion at X.