# Pagination

Category: [Technical SEO](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/category/technical-seo/) › [HTML, mobile & accessibility](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/category/technical-seo/html-mobile-accessibility/) · Also known as: paging, paginated pages

**Pagination** on the web splits a long list across several numbered pages, such as the products of a store category, blog archives, or search results. For SEO, what counts is whether search engines can reach each page through its own URL and regular links, and so find every item linked from those pages.

Outside the web, pagination means numbering the pages of a book or document. This entry covers the SEO meaning.

## How does Google handle paginated pages?

Google describes three patterns for long lists. With classic pagination, users move between pages with numbers or "next" and "previous" links. With "load more," a button extends the current list, and with infinite scroll, new items load as the user scrolls. Google doesn't name a preferred pattern for users. For Search, though, Googlebot doesn't click buttons or scroll, so items that only appear after such actions need crawlable URLs as well, or another way to be found, such as sitemaps or Merchant Center feeds.

Google's recommendations for crawlable pagination:

- Give each page its own URL, for example with a `?page=2` parameter.
- Link the pages sequentially with regular `<a href>` links, and link from every page back to the first one.
- Don't put page numbers in a URL fragment after `#`, because Google ignores fragments.
- Give each page a self-referencing canonical. Google explicitly says not to use the first page as the canonical for the whole sequence.

## What about rel="next" and rel="prev"?

Google used to read the link attributes `rel="next"` and `rel="prev"` to understand page sequences. Its documentation now states that Google no longer uses them. Other search engines may still do so, so the attributes can stay in the code, but they don't make pages crawlable on their own.

## Example

A category with 120 products shows 24 per page. Page 3 looks like this in the source:

```html
<link rel="canonical" href="https://www.example.com/sneakers?page=3">

<nav aria-label="Pagination">
  <a href="/sneakers?page=2">Previous</a>
  <a href="/sneakers">1</a>
  <a href="/sneakers?page=2">2</a>
  <a href="/sneakers?page=3" aria-current="page">3</a>
  <a href="/sneakers?page=4">4</a>
  <a href="/sneakers?page=5">5</a>
  <a href="/sneakers?page=4">Next</a>
</nav>
```

## Common mistakes

- **Canonical of every page pointing to page 1:** Google advises against it. Later pages list different products and aren't duplicates of page 1.
- **Placeholder links:** Pagination built with `href="#"` or `javascript:void(0)` and a click handler gives Googlebot nothing to follow. Many tutorial examples use such placeholders.
- **Crawlable filter and sort combinations:** Combining pagination with filters and sort orders multiplies URLs. Google suggests keeping those variations out with `noindex` or robots.txt.

## FAQ

**Should paginated pages be set to noindex?**
Google's pagination guide recommends `noindex` only for filter and sort variations. It has no explicit rule for the paginated pages themselves. They need to be crawled so the products or articles they link to are found.

**Is infinite scroll bad for SEO?**
Not if the content is also available on paginated URLs that Googlebot can reach through links. Without them, items that load only on scroll may not be discovered.

## At a glance

- **Type:** splitting a long list across numbered pages
- **URL per page:** its own URL, e.g. ?page=2
- **Canonical:** self-referencing on every page
- **rel=next/prev:** no longer used by Google
- **Docs:** [Pagination and incremental page loading](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/specialty/ecommerce/pagination-and-incremental-page-loading)

Last checked: October 8, 2026

## Related terms

- [Canonical tag](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/canonical-tag/index.md)
- [Infinite scroll](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/infinite-scroll/index.md)
- [rel=next / rel=prev](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/rel-next-rel-prev/index.md)
- [Faceted navigation](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/faceted-navigation/index.md)
- [Crawl budget](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/crawl-budget/index.md)

## Sources

- [Pagination, incremental page loading, and their impact on Google Search – Google Search Central (updated Dec 10, 2025)](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/specialty/ecommerce/pagination-and-incremental-page-loading)
- [Link best practices for Google – Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/links-crawlable)

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Last updated: October 8, 2026
URL: https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/pagination/