How to best create a user history bar for your website

So I am creating a new site and would like to have some sort of easy navigation bar for the user, you know the type...

Stack overflow >> Web Design >> What is more useful on a...

And if you click on ''Web Design'' it takes you back to that level, or if you click ''Stack Overflow'' it takes you back to that point in the hierarchy.

But then I thought maybe people are more interested in where they have been, such as a:

Web design >> Topic 1 >> Web design >> topic 2

etc. This has obvious repetition flaws, and can sometimes make site navigation confusing, but its nice because sometime you are like 'oh i want to be back there but how did I get here?'.

I think the second method is more confusing in some circumstances, but its faster. The first gives more structure and makes more sense to the user but will be slower and has the potential to lose places you have been.

In terms of site design and user experience, what experiences have people had with either of these, and what is the better choice from a web design point of view?

Note: I am not looking for opinion, I am looking for experiences people have had when building their own sites and what solutions have worked best.