Technical SEO
Pagination SEO: Best Practices from Google’s Documentation
Google can only index what it can reach. Pagination decides whether it reaches page 5 of your catalogue.
Google says it generally crawls URLs found in the href of links, doesn’t click buttons, and generally doesn’t trigger JavaScript that needs a user action. That matters for pagination, “load more” buttons and infinite scroll.
Its pagination guidance comes down to a few rules that keep every item reachable.
Short answer: For pagination SEO: link each page to the next with a real <a href> link; give every page a unique URL (such as ?page=2); let each page canonicalize to itself rather than page 1; don’t use # fragments for page numbers; don’t rely on load-more buttons or infinite scroll alone; and keep filtered or re-sorted versions out of the index. Google no longer uses rel=”next” and rel=”prev”.
Key Takeaways
- Sequential <a href> links let Google reach every page.
- Each page needs its own URL and its own canonical.
- Don’t canonicalize pages 2+ to page 1.
- Google doesn’t click load-more buttons.
- rel=next/prev is no longer used by Google.
Choosing a pattern
| Pattern | Pros | Cons for SEO |
|---|---|---|
| Pagination | Clear position and size | Needs crawlable links between pages |
| Load more | Single page for users | Google won’t click the button; needs a paginated fallback |
| Infinite scroll | Intuitive | Needs paginated URLs behind it so content is reachable |
Best practices
- Link from each page to the next with <a href>.
- Consider linking all pages back to page 1.
- Use unique URLs, such as ?page=n.
- Give each page a self-referencing canonical.
- Don’t use fragments (#page2).
- Same titles and descriptions across the sequence are fine, Google says.
Filters and sorting
Block or noindex sorted and filtered versions of lists to avoid duplicates (faceted navigation).
Belt and braces
A sitemap or Merchant Center feed helps Google find products that sit deep in paginated lists.
Frequently asked questions
Should paginated pages be noindexed?
Google’s guidance is to give each page its own URL and canonical, not to noindex them; noindexing can stop Google finding items listed on them.
Does Google still use rel=next and rel=prev?
No. Google says it no longer uses them, though other search engines may.
Is infinite scroll bad for SEO?
Only if items can’t be reached through crawlable paginated URLs.
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Sources
- Google Search Central: Pagination, incremental page loading and Google Search
- Google Search Central: Designing a URL structure for ecommerce sites
Last reviewed October 14, 2026.
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