Breadcrumbs tell search engines and AI systems exactly where a page sits in your catalog hierarchy. When Google crawls your store, it needs to understand which category a product belongs to, what the parent category is, and how everything connects. AI systems like ChatGPT and Gemini need the same information when generating product recommendations.
Shopify’s default breadcrumb system is limited. It does not support multi-level hierarchies, the path can change depending on how visitors arrive, and the schema markup is unreliable.
We recorded a video walkthrough using Bad.no, a Norwegian home improvement store, as a live example to show how to fix Shopify breadcrumbs:
Fix Shopify Breadcrumbs
By the way, if you want to check your Shopify store’s schema markup here is a free Shopify Schema Checker!
Why Shopify Breadcrumbs Don’t Work for Multi-Level Stores
Shopify’s default breadcrumbs follow a simple structure: Home > Collection > Product.
When a visitor navigates from homepage to a collection to a product, Shopify builds the breadcrumb based on that path. This works for stores with a flat catalog - one level of collections, products inside.
Most stores are not flat. They have categories, subcategories, and sometimes three or four levels of organization.
[Image: Bad.no’s menu structure showing Bath > Bathroom Interior > Vanity Cabinet]
For example, Bad.no has a menu style of a three-level collection hierarchy and they need to show it as breadcrumb:
- Bath - parent collection
- Bathroom Interior - sub-collection
- Vanity Cabinet - product type collection
Products sit inside Vanity Cabinet. The full breadcrumb path should show all of this:
Home > Bath > Bathroom Interior > Vanity Cabinet > Product Name
Shopify cannot build this by default.
The two limitations:
- No multi-level hierarchy - Shopify only supports one collection level. You cannot build breadcrumbs with parent, sub-collection, and product type collection without custom code or an app.
- Breadcrumb changes based on arrival path - Navigate through Collection A, the breadcrumb shows Collection A. Navigate through Collection B to the same product, the breadcrumb shows Collection B. Arrive from Google, you might see a fallback collection that does not match your intended structure.
This inconsistency confuses both visitors and search engines. Google cannot reliably determine your catalog structure when the breadcrumb path changes on every visit.
How to Build Hierarchical Breadcrumbs in Shopify
Risify lets you define explicit breadcrumb paths with as many levels as you need. You set the path once, and it displays consistently regardless of how visitors reach the page.
Once you install Risify, open the app and go to Navigation. This is where you configure breadcrumb paths.
You will see two tabs:
- Collections - Configure breadcrumbs for collection pages
- Products - Configure breadcrumbs for product pages
How to configure a breadcrumb path
You can configure breadcrumbs in bulk:
- Select multiple collections or products using the checkboxes
- Click Add breadcrumbs at the top right
- The pop-up will show “Edit breadcrumb for X collections”
In the pop-up window:
- Preview shows your store domain and how the breadcrumb will appear
- Add collections to breadcrumb - use the search field to find and add each level of your hierarchy
- Add items in order - Home first, then parent collection, then sub-collection, then product type collection
- To change order, drag and drop
- To remove an item, click the X
- Click Save when the path is correct
Repeat for other collections and products. Keep paths consistent - two to three collection levels is usually ideal.
Automatic schema markup for Shopify
Risify generates BreadcrumbList schema automatically from the paths you define. What visitors see on the page matches exactly what Google reads in the schema - both come from the same definition.
Verifying the schema
You can verify with Google’s Rich Results Test:
- Go to search.google.com/test/rich-results
- Paste a product URL
- Click Test URL
In the results, BreadcrumbList shows with a green checkmark - the schema is valid.
Expand BreadcrumbList to see the exact path Google is reading: Home at position one, Bath at position two, Bathroom Interior at position three, Vanity Cabinet at position four, and the product at position five.
Set Up Hierarchical Breadcrumbs on Your Store
Multi-level breadcrumbs, fixed paths, and valid schema 
Fix Broken Shopify Breadcrumbs
Shopify only allows a single collection level. Parent and sub-collections cannot be represented natively, which breaks breadcrumb structure for products.You can install Risify from the Shopify App Store and configure multi-level breadcrumbs from the Navigation dashboard.
If you want to see how this works for your specific catalog first, book a short demo call with our team.
