In short
- Each page in a paginated series must have its own URL, for example with a ?page=2 parameter.
- Google says it explicitly: do not declare the first page as the canonical of the whole series. Each page carries its own canonical.
- Google no longer uses rel=next and rel=prev; regular links between pages are enough.
- Infinite loading without distinct URLs prevents Google from discovering the products on subsequent pages.
An e-commerce category rarely displays all its products on a single page. Pagination, or progressive loading, is essential for user experience. For SEO, it raises a simple question: does Google see all your products? Its documentation answers precisely.
One URL per page
Google treats each page of a paginated series as a distinct page. Each must therefore have its own URL, for example /draps-housses/?page=2. Do not use a fragment (#page=2): Google ignores what follows the #, and may not follow the link to the next page.
One canonical per page
This is the most common mistake: declaring page 1 as the canonical of all pages in the series. Google explicitly advises against it. Each page carries a canonical pointing to itself. Otherwise, you are asking Google to treat pages 2, 3 and beyond as duplicates of page 1, and the products that only appear on those pages may not be discovered through this path.
Regular links between pages
Link pages with regular HTML links (next page, page numbers). Google states it no longer uses rel="next" and rel="prev", even though other engines may still use them. Also think about a link from each page to the first page of the series.
Infinite loading and the "load more" button
Infinite scrolling and the "load more" button often improve the experience, but pose a problem if the additional products have no URL: Google does not trigger user actions (scrolling, clicking) to load more. The recommended solution: give each loaded block a distinct, crawlable URL, accessible through a link.
Title tags and meta descriptions of paginated pages
As an exception to the usual rule, Google states that the pages of the same series can share the same title tag and meta description. There is no point producing specific tags for page 7 of a category. Focus your effort on page 1, the one that needs to rank.
Should paginated pages be indexed?
Pages 2 and beyond rarely rank on important queries, but they help with product discovery. Leaving them crawlable and indexable, with their own canonical, is the safest approach. If your catalog is very large, the topic meets that of crawl budget.
Where to focus your effort
Pagination is a technical setting to get right once. What makes the difference afterwards is page 1 of each category: its title tag, its meta description, its H1 and its copy. That is the work unblind automates across the whole catalog, with the steps described in our method for optimizing a category page.
Frequently asked questions
Should paginated pages have a canonical pointing to page 1?
No. Google recommends not using the first page as the canonical of the series, and giving each page its own canonical URL. Otherwise, Google may ignore the products listed on subsequent pages.
Should paginated pages have different title tags?
It is not necessary. Google states that the pages of a paginated series can share the same title tag and meta description, as an exception to the usual recommendation of distinct tags.