{"id":35134,"date":"2020-04-14T19:00:10","date_gmt":"2020-04-15T00:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/?p=35134"},"modified":"2024-06-16T16:13:32","modified_gmt":"2024-06-16T21:13:32","slug":"rel-prev-next-pagination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/rel-prev-next-pagination\/","title":{"rendered":"SEOs Are Breaking Pagination After Google Changed Rel=Prev\/Next - Here\u2019s How to Get It Right"},"content":{"rendered":"
When Google announced that rel=prev\/next markup hadn\u2019t been used in years<\/a>, we noticed an increase in websites changing their implementation and actively harming their sites. Let\u2019s look at what changed and what you should be doing.<\/div>\n

The purpose of rel=prev\/next is to indicate paginated pages in a series. Google originally used the markup<\/a> to share signals with the group of paginated pages while still swapping to show the most relevant page in their search results. Typical use cases included dividing content into multiple parts and creating multiple pages for product lists, forum threads, and lists of blogs.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a look at what the actual code might look like for a three-page series.<\/p>\n

Page one:<\/strong>
\nThis is the first page, so it only needs to reference the next page.<\/p>\n

<link rel=\"next\" href=\"https:\/\/website.com\/page\/2\" \/>\n<\/pre>\n
Page two:<\/strong>
\nThis references both the next and previous pages in the series.<\/p>\n
<link rel=\"next\" href=\"https:\/\/website.com\/page\/3\" \/>\n<link rel=\"prev\" href=\"https:\/\/website.com\/page\/1\" \/>\n<\/pre>\n
Page three:<\/strong>
\nThis is the last page, so it only needs to reference the previous page.<\/p>\n
<link rel=\"prev\" href=\"https:\/\/website.com\/page\/2\" \/>\n<\/pre>\n
However, in 2019, Google decided to tell us they no longer used rel=prev\/next for pagination. Even worse, they apparently hadn\u2019t used it for years.<\/p>\n
\n
Spring cleaning!<\/p>\n
As we evaluated our indexing signals, we decided to retire rel=prev\/next.
\nStudies show that users love single-page content, aim for that when possible, but multi-part is also fine for Google Search. Know and do what\u2019s best for *your* users! #springiscoming<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/hCODPoKgKp<\/a>\u2014 Google Webmasters (@googlewmc) March 21, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n