Pagination and SEO
Pagination splits long lists — blog archives, product categories, search results — across multiple numbered pages. Handled carelessly it can create duplicate content and crawl problems; handled well it helps both users and search engines.
The goal is to let crawlers reach your deeper content while keeping the right pages eligible to rank and the user experience smooth.
Good Practice
A few principles keep paginated sets healthy and fully crawlable.
- Give each paginated page a unique, self-referencing canonical.
- Use crawlable
<a href>links between pages, not buttons that only work with JavaScript. - Make sure deeper pages are not buried too many clicks away.
Avoid Common Mistakes
Do not canonicalise every page back to page one — that can hide your deeper content from Google. Likewise, avoid noindex on pages you still want crawled for the links they contain.
Alternatives Worth Considering
For some lists, a 'load more' button or infinite scroll improves the experience, but only if there is still a crawlable, paginated set of URLs underneath for search engines to follow. We make sure the experience layered on top never cuts crawlers off from the content.
If you need a hand with any of this, your Progressive Robot delivery team is ready to help. Raise a ticket from the Support area of your client portal or speak to your account manager and we will guide you through the next steps.