What is Pagination?
Pagination refers to the practice of dividing content across multiple pages, usually with a navigational structure that allows users to move through the content in a sequence. It is commonly used in eCommerce product listings, blog archives, search results, and comment sections.
Paginated URLs often look like:
example.com/blog?page=2 example.com/category/shoes?page=3
Pagination helps manage long lists of content by improving usability and load times.
Why Pagination Matters
Pagination plays an important role in both user experience and SEO. While it helps break up long content into manageable chunks, it can also affect how search engines crawl and index a site if not handled correctly.
Benefits of proper pagination include:
- Easier navigation through large sets of content
- Reduced page load times compared to long-scroll formats
- Better organisation and user engagement
- Improved crawl efficiency when implemented with rel=”next” and rel=”prev” (historically supported by Google)
Mismanaged pagination can lead to crawl traps, duplicate content, or overlooked pages in search results.
Example in Use
An online clothing store might have hundreds of products in one category. Instead of listing all items on one page, it splits them across 20 pages using pagination controls like “Previous” and “Next.”
While infinite scroll is a modern alternative, pagination remains widely used for its simplicity and reliability.
Related Terms
- Crawl Budget
- Infinite Scroll
- Internal Linking
- URL Parameters
- User Experience