Pagination

How it works

Pagination divides a large collection of items, such as blog posts or product listings, into sequential pages. Each page typically shows a fixed number of items, with navigation controls like page numbers, previous and next links, and sometimes first and last links. Users click through these controls to browse the full set.

In web development, pagination is implemented either with offset-based or cursor-based logic. Offset pagination uses a page number and a limit (e.g., page 3 with 20 items per page). Cursor pagination uses a token or pointer to the last item seen, which avoids problems when new items are added to the start of the list. Both approaches reduce server load and page weight by limiting the data returned per request.

For search engines, each paginated page is a distinct URL. Crawlers follow links from one page to the next, so the structure must be crawlable. Google no longer uses the rel=next/prev markup, so the emphasis is on clear internal linking and a sensible canonical strategy to avoid duplicate content issues.

Where it changes your decision

• Category pages on ecommerce sites: pagination affects how many products are visible per page, which influences crawl budget and user experience. Smaller page sizes improve load speed but increase the number of pages to crawl.
• Blog archives: pagination splits posts across multiple pages, so the first page should link to deeper pages. Without crawlable links, older posts may not be discovered.
• Search results pages: pagination limits the number of results shown at once, but each page may have similar content. A clear canonical strategy prevents search engines from treating them as duplicate content.

What it is not

• Pagination is not infinite scroll. Infinite scroll loads new content as the user scrolls, without page numbers or separate URLs. Pagination uses distinct URLs and explicit navigation controls.
• Pagination is not a 'load more' button. Load more appends content to the same page, whereas pagination moves the user to a new URL.
• Pagination is not faceted navigation. Faceted navigation splits content based on filters (e.g., colour, size), not sequence. Confusing the two can lead to crawl inefficiency and duplicate content.
• Pagination is not a single page. Each page in a paginated set is a separate resource, which search engines may index independently.

Common mistakes

• Creating paginated pages without crawlable links between them: search engines cannot discover deeper pages, so content remains unindexed.
• Letting pagination URLs generate duplicate or near-duplicate content without a clear canonical strategy: search engines may see each page as a separate version of the same content, diluting ranking signals.
• Using overly large page sizes that make pages slow to load: this harms user experience and can affect core web vitals.
• Confusing pagination with faceted navigation: applying pagination logic to filter-based splits creates unnecessary URLs and wastes crawl budget.

Worked example

An ecommerce site sells 500 products in a category. The site uses offset pagination with 20 products per page, creating 25 pages. Page 1 shows products 1-20, page 2 shows 21-40, and so on. Each page has a unique URL (e.g., /category?page=2) and links to the next and previous pages using anchor tags.

The site sets a canonical URL on each page pointing to itself, avoiding duplicate content with other parameter variations. Googlebot crawls page 1, follows the link to page 2, and continues through the series. Because the pages are crawlable and have distinct content, all 500 products can be discovered and indexed. The site avoids rel=next/prev markup and relies on clear internal linking instead.