Pagination SEO Strategy: Canonicals, Indexing, and Infinite Scroll Best Practice
Introduction
Pagination is essential for large websites, especially in e-commerce and blog archives. It improves user navigation, but mishandling pagination can damage SEO by limiting crawlability or causing duplicate content issues. This guide explores whether paginated pages should be self-canonical, indexed, or replaced with infinite scroll—and why those decisions matter for discoverability, ranking, and technical performance.
This article helps SEOs, marketers, and content managers optimise their pagination strategies for Google and other search engines.
Should Paginated Pages Use Self-Canonical Tags?
Canonical tags signal the preferred version of similar content. For paginated pages (e.g., /category?page=2), the big debate is whether to canonical each page to itself—or point all pages to page 1.
Google clearly states that paginated pages are not duplicates and should not canonicalise to page 1. Each page in a sequence shows unique content (e.g., different products or posts), so:
- Use self-referencing canonicals (e.g., page 2 canonicalises to page 2).
- Avoid canonicalising to page 1 unless you have a dedicated, crawlable "view all" page with the same content.
Pros of Self-Canonical:
- Preserves the visibility of all items in the series.
- Avoids de-indexing unique content.
- Prevents misuse of canonical intent (intended for duplicates).
Cons (addressed by Google):
- Similar templates across pages aren’t considered duplicates.
- Page 1 won’t lose value if other pages are indexed properly.
Index vs Noindex: Should Paginated Pages Be Indexed?
Using noindex on paginated URLs may seem like a way to tidy the index, but it can block crawlers from discovering deeper content.
When pages 2+ are set to noindex, even with follow, search engines eventually reduce crawling those pages, which means the links (to products or articles) might be missed.
According to Google’s best practices, you should:
- Use
index, followon all paginated URLs. - Avoid
noindexunless content is thin or there's a better alternative (e.g., a view-all page).
Noindexing pagination risks discovery and link flow. Best practice is to index paginated pages and ensure proper internal linking.
Follow vs Nofollow on Pagination Links
Pagination links (e.g., "Next", page numbers) must be crawlable anchor <a> links with rel="follow" (or no rel at all, as follow is default).
Using rel="nofollow" on these links breaks the crawl path, preventing search engines from reaching content beyond page 1.
Best practice:
- Use standard anchor links for "next"/"prev"/numbered pages.
- Do not use buttons or JavaScript-only actions without fallback links.
- Avoid
nofollowunless blocking spammy or untrusted links (not typical in internal pagination).
The Role of rel="prev" and rel="next"
Previously, Google supported rel="prev" and rel="next" tags in the <head> to indicate paginated sequences. However, as of 2019, Google no longer uses these tags for indexing.
You can still include them for completeness or for other search engines, but do not rely on them for canonicalisation or indexing.
Instead, focus on:
- Proper anchor links between pages.
- Self-canonicalisation.
- Open indexability.
Adding rel="prev/next" is optional and harmless, but not impactful for Google indexing.
Minimising Duplicate Content in Paginated Series
Paginated pages often share titles, headers, and descriptions, which can raise concerns about duplicate content.
Google understands pagination and typically won’t penalise for template similarities. Still, to improve clarity:
- Add "Page 2", "Page 3", etc., to
<title>tags. - Keep rich category descriptions on page 1 only.
- Focus optimisation (keyword targeting, structured data) on page 1.
This approach avoids internal competition and prevents dilution of relevance signals.
Understanding Crawl Depth in Large Paginations
Crawl depth refers to how many clicks away a page is from the homepage. In deep paginations, products buried on page 50 may never be discovered.
Risks of excessive depth:
- Googlebot may abandon crawling before reaching deeper pages.
- Pages beyond a certain depth receive minimal link equity.
- Important content may be missed or indexed late.
Solutions:
- Link to midpoint or last pages (e.g., 1, 2, 3, … 10).
- Include links to page 1 from all others.
- Use flat taxonomy or break categories into smaller segments.
Making Infinite Scroll SEO-Friendly
Infinite scroll is popular for user experience but problematic for SEO if not backed by crawlable URLs.
Google recommends implementing a progressively enhanced structure:
- Provide static paginated URLs (e.g.,
?page=2) for bots. - Update URLs on scroll using the History API.
- Include "load more" anchor links as fallbacks.
- Ensure each segment loads unique content (no overlap).
This hybrid method preserves UX while allowing full crawl and indexing.
Alternative: Use a "Load More" button with real anchor links to the next page, intercepted via JavaScript for smoother UX.
Best Practices Table
| Technique | Recommended? | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Self-Canonical | ✅ Yes | Preserves indexability of each page | None when implemented correctly |
| Canonical to Page 1 | ❌ No | Consolidates signals (in theory) | Causes content on page 2+ to be ignored |
| Noindex Paginated Pages | ❌ No | Reduces index clutter | Risks link loss and crawl cut-off |
| Index, Follow | ✅ Yes | Maximises crawl and discoverability | Adds more pages to index (not an issue) |
| Infinite Scroll (without fallback) | ❌ No | UX friendly | Blocks bots from accessing content |
| Infinite Scroll (with fallback URLs) | ✅ Yes | Good UX and SEO | Requires more dev work |
| Rel="prev/next" | Neutral | Safe to include | No impact on Google |
| Load More Button (with anchor links) | ✅ Yes | Mobile friendly, crawlable | Needs careful JS handling |
Conclusion
Pagination isn’t just a technical matter—it affects how your content is crawled, indexed, and found. For most websites, especially e-commerce and blogs, the best approach is:
- Use self-canonical on each paginated page.
- Set pages to index, follow.
- Ensure all pagination links are crawlable anchor tags.
- Avoid
rel="nofollow",noindex, or canonicals to page 1. - Reduce crawl depth using strategic internal linking.
- If using infinite scroll, implement crawlable fallbacks with paginated URLs.
Following these best practices ensures your full catalogue or archive gets the visibility it deserves—without confusing search engines or missing long-tail opportunities.