Technical Seo
Pagination
The practice of splitting content or listings across multiple pages, typically with numbered page links (Page 1, 2, 3...). Common on category pages, blog archives, and e-commerce product listings.
Why Pagination Matters for SEO
Poorly handled pagination creates crawl bloat, duplicate content, and indexation issues. Google deprecated rel=prev/next in 2019, meaning each paginated page is now treated as a standalone URL. You need a clear strategy for which pages should be indexed and how link equity flows.
How Pagination Works
Each paginated page gets a unique URL (usually with a ?page= parameter or /page/2/ path). Self-referencing canonicals on each page are the current best practice. Make sure each paginated page is reachable within a reasonable click depth and consider whether load-more or infinite scroll better serves your users and crawl efficiency.
Common Mistakes
- Canonicalising all paginated pages to page 1, hiding products from the index
- Creating hundreds of paginated pages with only 10 items per page
- Not including paginated URLs in the XML sitemap
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