Have you ever noticed your website URLs ending with something like ?page=2 or /page/3?
That’s what we call pagination — and while it’s useful for users, it can sometimes confuse search engines and waste your crawl budget.
Let’s break it down in simple words.
What Is Pagination?
Pagination occurs when a large list of products or articles is divided into multiple smaller pages.
eCommerce example:
- /mens-shoes?page=1
- /mens-shoes?page=2
- /mens-shoes?page=3
Blogs example:
- /blog?page=1
- /blog?page=2
- /blog?page=3
Each page shows a small part of the total content — like 10 shoes per page or 5 blog posts per page.
Why Pagination Can Be a Problem for SEO
While pagination helps users browse easily, it can create several indexing and crawling issues for search engines.
Here’s what usually goes wrong:
1. Wastes Your Crawl Budget
Search engines like Google have a limit on how many pages they crawl on your site in a given time.
If they spend time crawling /page=5 or /page=10, they might skip your important product or service pages.
2. Duplicate or Thin Content
Paginated pages often repeat titles, descriptions, and similar content.
For example:
/blog?page=1and/blog?page=2might both have the same title like “Our Latest Articles.”
That looks like duplicate content to Google.
3. Diluted Page Authority
Instead of one strong category page, your link value (also called link equity) gets divided across many paginated URLs.
4. Index Bloat
Google may index hundreds of similar paginated pages that bring no organic traffic — making your site look low-quality.
How to Prevent Pagination Issues
Luckily, there are several simple ways to fix or control pagination so it doesn’t hurt your SEO.
1. Use “noindex, follow” on Paginated Pages
This is one of the most common and safest methods.
Add this meta tag inside the <head> section of your paginated pages:
<meta name=”robots” content=”noindex, follow”>
This tells Google:
“Please don’t index this page, but do follow the links on it.”
That way, your products or posts still get discovered — without wasting crawl budget.
2. Block Paginated URLs in robots.txt (Use with Care)
If your paginated pages have no useful links, you can block them in your robots.txt file:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /*?page=
⚠️ Note: Use this only if those pages don’t contain important product or post links. Otherwise, Google won’t be able to find them.
3. Use Canonical Tags
You can guide search engines by telling them which version of the page is the “main one.”
Example:
<link rel="canonical" href="https://www.example.com/mens-shoes/">
This helps Google focus on your main category page instead of crawling all paginated URLs.
4. Create a “View All” Page or Use Infinite Scroll
If possible, create a “View All” version of the page that shows all items in one place.
Then, add a canonical tag from all paginated pages pointing to the “View All” page.
Alternatively, you can use infinite scroll (like many modern sites do).
Just make sure it’s set up properly for SEO — so Google can still access all items as the user scrolls.
5. Don’t Include Paginated URLs in Your Sitemap
Your XML sitemap should only include:
- Main category pages
- Product or article detail pages
- Key landing pages
❌ Never include /page=2, /page=3, etc. in your sitemap — they don’t add SEO value.
Real-Life Examples
eCommerce Site Example
An online store selling men’s shoes has:
/mens-shoes?page=1
/mens-shoes?page=2
/mens-shoes?page=3
Each page lists the same type of products, only in a different order.
You should index only /mens-shoes/ and block or “noindex” the rest.
Blog Example
A blog with:
/blog?page=1
/blog?page=2
/blog?page=3
These pages just show snippets of articles that already have their own URLs.
So, again — no need to index them all.
Final Thoughts
Pagination isn’t bad — it’s part of most modern websites.
The real problem happens when search engines spend too much time on low-value paginated pages instead of your key content.
By using a mix of noindex tags, canonical links, and better internal linking, you can make sure your important pages get the attention (and rankings) they deserve.
