How to Correctly Implement rel="canonical" Pagination for SEO
Learn how to correctly implement rel="canonical" tags for paginated pages to improve SEO, avoid duplicate content issues, and ensure full indexation of valuable content across your site.
Google's Official Guidelines for Pagination and Canonical URLs
Google strongly recommends not to make the first page in a series canonical for the rest, but instead to have each pagination page have a rel="canonical" pointing to itself. Simply put, page=2 should have a <link rel="canonical" href="...page=2" /> link in its head, page=3 should have a link to itself, and so on. This ensures that Google will treat each page as a separate page and be able to index it, rather than thinking that they are all duplicates of page one.
Other important tips from Google:
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Bind the pages together in sequence: Each page in a series should have links to the next (and previous) page so that the search bot can follow them sequentially. It is also advisable to provide a link back to the first page of the section from all pagination pages – this signals to Google that the first page may be the best entry point for users.
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Each page has a unique URL: Add a page number to the URL (e.g. ?page= parameter or /page/ segment) for each part of the pagination. Do not use URL fragments after the # sign for pagination - Google ignores them and such pages will not be found by the crawler.
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Don't mark pagination pages with the noindex tag without a good reason: Google considers such pages “regular” and does not require special attributes to understand that they are part of a series. Previously, it was suggested to use
<link rel="prev/next">to link pages, but in recent years Google no longer takes these tags into account when indexing. However, you can leave them – they do not affect the work of Google Search, but other search engines can use them, and there is no harm from them. -
Duplicate elements on series pages do not harm SEO: Google understands that some content is repeated in pagination (for example, section titles, descriptions, etc.). There is no “penalty” for such duplicates: the search engine itself will determine which page to show in the search results.
Popular Strategies for Setting Canonical URLs in Pagination
In practice, there are three approaches to specifying a canonical URL for a series of pages:
1. Self-canonization (each page refers to itself)
This method is the most preferred and supported by both Google and SEO specialists. Each paginated page contains a rel="canonical" link to its own URL in the <head>. For example, the first page of a category is <link rel="canonical" href="https://site.com/section/">, the second page is <link rel="canonical" href="https://site.com/section/?page=2">, the third is ?page=3, etc. This approach clearly shows the search engine that each page is unique, even if they belong to the same series.
- Use
rel="prev"/rel="next"links between pages (for other search engines and structuring). - Each page of the series is processed as a full-fledged page of the site. This method is considered best practice today.
2. Canonization to the first page of the section
Here, each paginated page, instead of a link to itself, contains <link rel="canonical" to the first page of the series. This option is not recommended – neither Google nor SEO practice approves of it. Historically, some sites did this, trying to "glue" all the pages into one and concentrate weight on the first page. However, in modern conditions, this causes more harm.
- This approach can cause pages 2, 3, etc., to be excluded from the index.
- Link equity is not fully passed down.
3. Canonical URL to a single page "View All"
The third approach is to make one unified page containing all the content of the series and consider it canonical.
- For example, create a hidden (or separate) page where all 100 products are shown at once, and put the canonical from pages 2–10 on it.
- This method is useful for multi-page articles or reviews.
- Ensure that the “View All” page is crawlable, not too heavy to load, and has a good user experience.
Impact of Different Strategies on Indexing and SEO
Self-canonization (canonical to oneself)
- Ensures indexing of all pages in a series.
- Each page (1, 2, 3, ...) is seen as a separate, but linked part of the collection.
- Maximizes indexing coverage without penalty.
Canonical to the first page
- Limits indexing to one URL. All other pages are considered duplicates.
- Users will not be able to find products/articles on pages 2, 3, and beyond.
- Link weight is concentrated only on page 1.
Canonical to the page "All at once"
- Concentrates indexing on one URL but does not lose content.
- Users can see the entire list on one page, and SEO benefits concentrate on that URL.
Typical Mistakes and Their Consequences
- Canonical tag points to the first page for all pages: This results in pages 2, 3, etc., being excluded from the index.
- Setting noindex on paginated pages: This excludes pages from search and stops the bot from crawling them.
- Adding the nofollow attribute to pagination links: This prevents the search engine from moving to the next page at all.
- Blocking paginated URLs in robots.txt: This stops the bot from crawling paginated pages entirely.
- Using fragments (#) instead of parameters: This causes Google to treat all pagination as the same URL, making only the first page indexed.
Optimal Solutions for Different Types of Sites
- Blogs and news sites: Use self-canonical links on each archive page, allowing older collection pages to be indexed.
- Online stores and product catalogs: Use self-canonical for product pages, ensuring all products in the category are indexed.
- Forums and communities: Each page of a discussion thread should canonicalize to itself. Self-canonicalization is recommended.
- Long articles, reviews, and longreads: Canonicalize to the full version of the article for SEO benefits.
Conclusions and Recommendations
- Use rel="canonical" on itself for all pagination pages – this is the gold standard.
- Ensure end-to-end navigation and accessibility of all pages – Each page should have a unique URL and be linked to its neighbors.
- Avoid combining canonicals with indexing restrictions – If a page is canonical, do not set it to noindex.
- Check pagination through tools – Use site audit tools to identify errors and ensure that all pages are indexed properly.
By following these guidelines, you will set up pagination that is both user-friendly and search engine-friendly.
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