How can I optimize Magento's breadcrumb navigation URLs for SEO?

@mike 

Here are some tips to optimize Magento's breadcrumb navigation URLs for SEO:

1. Enable the Breadcrumbs Feature: Make sure that the breadcrumb navigation is enabled in your Magento settings. Go to the Admin Panel > Stores > Settings > Configuration > General > Web > Default Pages > Show Breadcrumbs.
2. Use Customizable Breadcrumb Navigation: Magento allows you to customize the breadcrumb navigation in the code. You can edit the template file responsible for rendering breadcrumbs (/app/design/frontend/[theme_vendor]/[theme_name]/Magento_Theme/templates/html/breadcrumbs.phtml) to modify the URL structure.
3. Include Relevant Keywords: Ensure that the breadcrumb URLs use relevant keywords related to the page's content. For example, if the breadcrumb represents a category hierarchy, use category names or relevant keywords in the URLs.
4. Avoid Duplicate Content: Magento tends to create duplicate URL structures for product and category pages. To avoid this, you can set canonical URLs using the rel="canonical" tag to indicate the preferred version of the page.
5. Consistent URL Structure: Maintain a consistent URL structure throughout your website. Ensure that the breadcrumb URLs follow the same hierarchy as the navigation structure to provide a consistent user experience and improve SEO.
6. Use Hyphens instead of Underscores: Use hyphens "-" instead of underscores "_" to separate words in the URL. This helps search engines understand each word as a separate entity and improve readability.
7. Remove Stop words: Consider removing stop words like "a," "an," "the," etc., from the breadcrumb URLs. Stop words don't contribute much to SEO and can make the URLs longer.
8. Optimize Breadcrumb Anchor Text: The anchor text of the breadcrumb links on your pages should be descriptive and keyword-rich. Make sure it accurately represents the content of the linked page.
9. Test and Monitor: After implementing any changes, monitor the impact on your website's SEO performance. Use tools like Google Search Console to track the indexing and ranking of your breadcrumb URLs.

Remember to always backup your files before making any modifications to Magento's core templates or files to avoid potential issues.