Pagination and SEO: rel=next Is Dead — What to Do Instead

Pagination splits content across multiple URLs — a blog with 200 posts might spread them across 20 paginated archive pages. This creates several SEO issues: link equity from links to the category page gets split across 20 URLs instead of concentrating on one; pages 2–20 have thin content (just post titles/excerpts) with no standalone search intent; and crawl budget is consumed visiting paginated pages that don't rank for anything.

Google deprecated the rel=next/prev link attribute in 2019, which was previously the standard way to signal pagination relationships. Many guides still recommend it — they're wrong. Google no longer uses it.

For most paginated content, the best current approach is to canonicalize all paginated pages to page 1. This consolidates link equity at the first page, which is the version most likely to rank for the category keyword. Pages 2–20 get crawled but their link equity flows to page 1.

The second approach is noindex on pages 2+. This prevents paginated pages from appearing in search results while still allowing Google to follow links to the content on those pages. Use noindex when you don't want the paginated pages included in crawl budget at all.

The third approach — appropriate only for paginated content with genuine search intent per page — is to treat each page as a standalone document with unique content that justifies indexing. This rarely applies to archive pages but can apply to 'Best of [Year]' lists, product category pages with unique category-level content per page, or tutorial series where each page covers distinct content.

JavaScript-based 'Load More' buttons and infinite scroll sidestep traditional pagination but create their own issues. If content loaded via JavaScript isn't server-side rendered, Google may not index it at all — the content below the initial viewport exists in the DOM only after JavaScript executes, which Google may or may not crawl.

The recommended pattern: implement 'Load More' as a progressive enhancement where paginated URLs still exist and work without JavaScript. The page at /category?page=2 should return its content as HTML without JavaScript. This ensures Google can crawl all content while users who have JavaScript get the smoother experience.

Check Google Search Console's Coverage report for paginated pages in your index. If paginated archive pages (page 2, 3, etc.) are indexed and receiving impressions, you have an opportunity to consolidate that crawl budget to pages that can actually rank. WebEnture's Duplicate Content Checker identifies paginated pages across your site and checks whether canonical tags are correctly implemented on each one.