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Glossary – Pagination

Pagination

Nikiforov Alexander
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What is pagination

Pagination, or page numbering, is an important navigation element on a website. It is typically displayed as a list of page numbers or letters, where each number is a hyperlink leading to a specific page. Generally, the pagination block is located at the top or bottom of a web page. Pagination is widely used in online stores, where each page features several dozen products, as well as on websites with regularly updated content, such as blogs, encyclopedias, and news publications. The most recent entries are displayed on the first page, while older ones appear on subsequent pages.

A parallel to pagination can be found in the pages of books, newspapers, and magazines, which also help readers navigate the content. Web pagination serves the same function, allowing users to find the information they need more conveniently and quickly.

Types of pagination

There are different implementations of pagination that vary in design. The most common options include:

  • Numeric pagination: pages are numbered with digits, such as 1, 2, 3. This option is most frequently used in online stores and marketplaces.
  • Alphabetical pagination: pages are designated with letters of the alphabet (A, B, C). This approach is often used in encyclopedias and dictionaries.
  • Range pagination: users can flip through pages using buttons like “next 10 pages” or “pages 20–30.” This method is common on forums and blogs.

Additionally, there is "seamless" pagination, where the site has only one button - "show more N items." When clicked, new content loads dynamically without reloading the page. There is also "infinite scroll," where new content is automatically loaded as the user scrolls down. This approach allows users to continuously receive new information, which is particularly relevant for news sites and social networks.

What is the purpose of pagination

Pagination serves several important functions:

  • User convenience: Pagination makes browsing content easier by breaking it into more manageable parts. Instead of facing a massive page with unstructured content, users can quickly find the products or articles they are interested in.
  • Fast loading: Large pages with numerous elements can take a long time to load, leading to user disinterest. Pagination helps speed up content loading, allowing users to see only a small portion of information at a time.
  • Increased accessibility: Some users may disable JavaScript in their browsers, which can disrupt automatic content loading. Pagination ensures that information is accessible to all users.

How search engines respond to pagination

Search engines use bots to index web pages. However, pagination can cause some issues. For example, if there are too many pages, the bot may not be able to index them all. Additionally, if identical content is found on different pages, the search engine may consider this as duplicate content, which can negatively impact the site's visibility in search results.

Each site has its own "crawling budget," which determines how many pages can be indexed. Therefore, it is important to optimize pagination to help search engines correctly index the content. This may include excluding pagination pages from indexing, creating a single page for the entire catalog's content, or using tags to link pages together.

How to implement pagination on a website

Pagination is included during the website creation phase, and web developers and SEO specialists are responsible for its configuration. Often, content management systems (CMS) already have built-in functions for implementing pagination, allowing users without programming skills to set it up. However, proper optimization may be required for search engines to perceive pagination correctly.

The creation of pagination can be divided into two stages:

  • Development: Pagination can be implemented using standard CMS tools or specialized modules. It is also possible to develop unique code for a specific website.
  • Optimization: SEO specialists can remove unnecessary pages from indexing, create a single page for the entire catalog, or use special tags to link pages together.

It is also worth remembering that seamless pagination should not be the only navigation method, as this may hinder access to subsequent pages for users with scripts disabled.