Pagination splits long lists, such as blog archives or category pages, into page 1, 2, 3 and so on. Handled poorly, deeper items can be hard for search engines to find.
Best practices
- Use normal links to paginated pages, such as /blog/page/2/.
- Give each paginated page a self-referencing canonical, not a canonical to page 1.
- Make important items reachable through categories and internal links too.
- Keep paginated pages indexable unless they cause problems.
Infinite scroll and “load more”
Make sure there are crawlable paginated URLs behind infinite scroll or “load more” buttons, so search engines can reach all items.
Sitemaps
Include individual posts and products in your sitemap so they are discovered regardless of pagination; generate one with our sitemap generator.
Clean URLs
Use consistent URL patterns; create slugs with our URL slug generator.
Read SEO for category pages.
Want the full picture? This article is part of SEO: the complete guide, our in-depth guide with everything in one place.
