Blog Add pagination that plays nicely with SEO
Add pagination that plays nicely with SEO
TL;DR Give each paginated page a real, crawlable URL, a self-referencing canonical, and a unique title. Do not canonicalise page 2 to page 1, do not hide pages behind JavaScript-only navigation, and make sure crawlers can follow the links to reach deep items.
Pagination looks simple and quietly causes SEO problems: duplicated pages, split signals, and items that crawlers never reach. Getting it right is mostly about a few clear rules. Here they are.
Give every page a real URL
Each paginated page needs its own crawlable URL, like /blog/page/2, reachable by a normal link. If your "next" button only works through JavaScript with no real href, a crawler may never follow it, and everything past page 1 becomes invisible. Real anchors to real URLs are the foundation.
Canonical each page to itself
This is the mistake that bites people: canonicalising page 2, 3, and 4 all to page 1. That tells search engines the other pages are duplicates of the first and should not exist, which can bury every item that only appears deeper in the list.
Instead, each page's canonical points at itself. Page 2's canonical is page 2. They are genuinely different sets of items, so treat them as distinct pages.
Make each page distinct
- Unique titles. "Blog, page 2" is enough to distinguish it from page 1.
- Distinct content. Each page shows different items, which it already does; just do not repeat the same items across pages.
About rel=next and rel=prev
These once told Google how pages related. Google has said it no longer uses them for indexing, so they are not required. Some other engines may still read them, and they do no harm, but do not rely on them to fix anything. Crawlable links and correct canonicals do the real work.
Do not orphan the deep items
The whole risk of pagination is that items far down the list become unreachable. Two things prevent that: real links crawlers can follow, and not canonicalising the pages away. Together they keep every item in a long list discoverable.
The short version
Real URLs, self-referencing canonicals, unique titles, and links a crawler can actually follow. Get those four right and pagination stops being an SEO liability and goes back to being what it should be: a simple way to break a long list into pages.
FAQ
Should page 2 canonicalise to page 1?
No. That is a common mistake. Each page is a distinct set of items, so each should have a self-referencing canonical. Pointing them all at page 1 tells search engines the other pages do not exist, which can hide the items only reachable there.
Do I still need rel=next and rel=prev?
Google has said it no longer uses them for indexing, so they are not required, though some other engines may still read them and they do no harm. The more important things are crawlable links, unique URLs, and correct canonicals.
How do crawlers reach items deep in a list?
Through the pagination links. If your next-page navigation only works via JavaScript with no real href, crawlers may never follow it, leaving deep items undiscovered. Real anchor links to real URLs keep the whole list reachable.