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/Pagination
📘Concept

Pagination

최종 업데이트:

Definition

Pagination is a method of splitting and displaying many items—such as blog lists, e-commerce product listings, and news archives—across multiple URLs.

example.com/blog/          (page 1)
example.com/blog/page/2/  (page 2)
example.com/blog/page/3/  (page 3)

From an SEO perspective, pagination can cause crawl budget dispersion, link authority dilution, and duplicate content signals, requiring careful management.

Summary

Current pagination recommendations: ①Self-referencing canonical on each page (<link rel="canonical" href="[current URL]">) ②Ensure page 1 contains the most important content ③Keep all pages crawlable ④Include only page 1 in XML sitemap or set higher priority. rel=prev/next no longer has effect; usage is optional.

rel=prev/next Deprecation (2019)

History

rel=prev and rel=next link attributes were the official method for informing Google of sequential page relationships.

<link rel="prev" href="https://example.com/blog/page/2/" />
<link rel="next" href="https://example.com/blog/page/4/" />

Google's 2019 Announcement

In March 2019, Google officially discontinued rel=prev/next support. Google's Gary Illyes stated "Google had not used rel=prev/next for indexing for years and most sites did not know about it."

Current Situation

  • rel=prev/next tags are still referenced by Bing but have no Google impact
  • Keeping tags does no harm but has no Google SEO effect
  • Maintaining them for Bing is reasonable

SEO Problems with Pagination

1. Crawl Budget Dispersion

If a blog list has 10 pages, Googlebot must crawl 10 URLs. Hundreds of pagination URLs on large sites seriously waste crawl budget. See Crawl Budget for details.

2. Link Authority Dilution

Links to each post in blog lists are distributed across multiple pages. Each post receives less internal link authority.

3. Similar Content Signals

Similar meta descriptions, H1, and sidebars across pages 1, 2, and 3 can become duplicate content signals. See Duplicate Content for details.

4. Low Authority on Deep Pages

Deep pages like page 4 and 5 receive almost no internal links and have very low authority.

Currently Recommended Pagination Handling

Method 1: Self-Referencing Canonical on Each Page

Set each pagination URL as canonical to itself. This specifies each page should be crawled and indexed as an independent URL.

<!-- on page/2/ -->
<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/blog/page/2/" />

<!-- on page/3/ -->
<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/blog/page/3/" />

See Canonical Tag for details.

Method 2: Consolidating Canonical to First Page (Not Recommended)

Canonicalizing all pagination URLs to page 1 causes Google not to crawl pages 2–N, and content on those pages is not indexed. Individual post links on list pages no longer contribute to indexing, so this is generally not recommended.

Method 3: noindex + Follow

Set pages 2 and beyond to noindex while following internal links. Use when pages 2+ do not need direct search exposure.

<meta name="robots" content="noindex, follow" />

Note: noindex pages still consume crawl budget, so there is no crawl efficiency improvement.

Infinite Scroll and SEO

Problems

Infinite scroll loads content as users scroll. Because it loads dynamically with JavaScript, Googlebot does not trigger scroll events and may not discover content beyond the first screen.

Google-Recommended Approach

Google-recommended infinite scroll SEO implementation:

  1. Progressive loading + URL updates: URL must change based on scroll position 
    Before scroll: example.com/products/
After partial scroll: example.com/products/?page=2
  2. Component URLs: Each scroll point must have a unique URL
  3. Provide pagination alternative links: Provide hidden traditional pagination links alongside infinite scroll so Googlebot can explore

"Load More" Button Pattern

A pattern safer for SEO than infinite scroll. Additional content loads when users click a button.

SEO considerations:

  • Initially loaded content is crawled normally by Googlebot
  • Content loaded after button click may be missed by Googlebot
  • Important content should be included in initial load

E-commerce Pagination Special Considerations

Filter URL Parameters

When filters (?color=blue&size=M) combine with pagination, URLs explode.

/products/?color=blue&size=M&page=2
/products/?color=blue&size=M&page=3
/products/?color=red&size=L&page=2
...

See URL Parameters for details. Solution: Block excessive parameter combinations with robots.txt or consolidate with canonical.

Product Detail Page Indexing Strategy

Products appearing only on list page 2+ are hard to index. Important products must be ensured indexing through page 1 or separate links.

Application in the Korean Market

Pagination in Korean E-commerce CMS

Cafe24 and Godomall use traditional pagination (?page=N) by default. These parameters can signal duplicate URLs to Google, making self-referencing canonical settings important.

Naver Shopping Integration Considerations

Product URLs integrated with Naver Shopping feeds must have unique URLs independent of pagination. Products accessible only within pagination may also struggle with Naver Shopping indexing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Should I remove rel=prev/next?
A. It has no effect for Google SEO, but removal does no harm. Maintaining it is reasonable if targeting Bing. New sites do not need to add it.

Q. Is it okay for pages 2+ to be indexed by Google?
A. Indexing itself is not a problem. However, if page 2 appears directly in search results, users may miss the experience of exploring from page 1. For list pages, set page 1 as the formal landing and index pages 2+ with self-referencing canonical while strengthening internal link structure to prefer page 1.

Q. Which is better for SEO: infinite scroll or traditional pagination?
A. Properly implemented traditional pagination is safer for SEO. If infinite scroll is not implemented correctly, Googlebot may not discover content beyond the first screen. If UX benefits are significant, infinite scroll + parallel pagination link structure is recommended.

Q. Which is better: ?page=2 vs /page/2/ for pagination URLs?
A. SEO difference is minimal. Slash paths (/page/2/) are cleaner URLs, but parameters (?page=2) are also handled fine by Google. Consistency matters more; choose one and maintain it site-wide. See URL Slug for details.

Q. Can page 1 and other pages have the same meta description?
A. Not recommended. Write unique meta descriptions for each page when possible. At minimum, specify "Page 2", "Page 3" for distinction. Duplicate meta descriptions may cause Google to auto-generate replacement descriptions in SERP. See Meta Description for details.

Sources

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