Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Google Pagination Changes
-
What with Google recently coming out and saying they're basically ignoring paginated pages, I'm considering the link structure of our new, sooner to launch ecommerce site (moving from an old site to a new one with identical URL structure less a few 404s).
Currently our new site shows 20 products per page but with this change by Google it means that any products on pages 2, 3 and so on will suffer because google treats it like an entirely separate page as opposed to an extension of the first.
The way I see it I have one option: Show every product in each category on page 1.
I have Lazy Load installed on our new website so it will only load the screen a user can see and as they scroll down it loads more products, but how will google interpret this? Will Google simply see all 50-300 products per category and give the site a bad page load score because it doesn't know the Lazy Load is in place? Or will it know and account for it?
Is there anything I'm missing?
-
It's likely that they will be valued a bit less but the effects shouldn't be drastic. Even if you just had one massive page with all products on the ones at the top would likely get more juice anyway
If it's a crazy big concern, think about a custom method to sort your products
-
Thank you very much for taking the time to respond so eloquently.
If all the products would be visible in the base, non-modified source code (right click page, then click "view source" - is the data there?) then there is a high likelihood that Google will see and crawl it.
I can confirm that each product does in fact appear in the source data, so as you say, Google will crawl it which is somewhat of a relief.
Does this then mean that regardless of which page the products appear on, Google will simply ignore this factor and treat each product the same regardless?
The thing I am trying to avoid is products on page 2, 3 and so on from being valued less.
-
This is a great, technical SEO query!
What you have to understand is that whilst Google 'can' crawl JS, they often don't. They don't do it for just anyone, and even then they don't do it all of the time. Google's main mission is to 'index the web' - on that account their index of the web's pages, whilst vast - is still far from complete
Crawling JavaScript necessitates the usage of a headless browser (if you were using Python to script such a thing, you'd be using the Selenium or Windmill modules). A browser must open (even if it does so invisibly) and 'run' the JavaScript, which creates more HTML - which can then be crawled only **AFTER **the script execution
On average this takes 10x longer than basic, non-modified source code scraping. Ask your self, would Google take a 10x efficiency hit on an incomplete mission - for 'everyone' on the web? The answer is no (I see evidence of this every day across many client accounts)
Let's answer your question. If all the products would be visible in the base, non-modified source code (right click page, then click "view source" - is the data there?) then there is a high likelihood that Google will see and crawl it
If the data (code) only exists with right click, inspect element - and not in "view source" - then the data only exists in the 'modified' source code (not the base-source). In that scenario, Google would be extremely unlikely to crawl it (or always crawl it). If it's a very important page on a very important site (Coca Cola, M&S, Barclays, Santander) then Google may go further
For most of us, the best possible solution is to 'get' the data we want crawled, into the non-modified source code. This can be achieved by using JS only for the visual changes (but not the structure) or by adopting SSR (Server Side Rendering)
Hope that helps
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
How does Google handle fractions in titles?
Which is better practice, using 1/2" or ½"? The keyword research suggests people search for "1 2" with the space being the "/". How does Google handle fractions? Would ½ be the same as 1/2?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Choice2 -
Brand name not ranking in Google
Hi Moz'ers, Could you help me with something I cannot seem to figure out by myself. In June 2017 my company started a rebranding campaign. We've changed our brand name and launched a new website: https://spotler.com. Everything is going fine, but if you Google our brand name "Spotler" our website doesn't show up. How can it be? Our domain authority is 38. It would be wonderful if you could help me. Let me know if you need more information. Best, Simone
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Spotler0 -
Recent Algo Change
I was wondering if anybody can shed some light on any recent changes to the Google algorithm in Australia. A competitor, www.manwithavan.com.au has always been number 1 for the most competitive search term in our industry "removalists melbourne". However, in the last week, they have fallen out of the the SERPS and are now (according to MOZ) ranking outside the top 50. As far as l can tell, they have a really well optimized site with good structure, great text and updated content. They are very active within social media circles and have some really good external links. Can anybody tell me why they would have been hit so badly. The reason l ask is that i want to make sure we don't make the same mistake. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | RobSchofield1 -
How to find all indexed pages in Google?
Hi, We have an ecommerce site with around 4000 real pages. But our index count is at 47,000 pages in Google Webmaster Tools. How can I get a list of all pages indexed of our domain? trying to locate the duplicate content. Doing a "site:www.mydomain.com" only returns up to 676 results... Any ideas? Thanks, Ben
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | bjs20100 -
Will changing Google Places address hurt rankings?
I have a client transferring ownership of their service business (photo booth rental). The current listed address will change, so my main concern is preserving the rankings during the transition. Should I change the Google Local listing to a new physical address, or change it to "serve a surrounding area"? It seems best to set as "serving a surrounding area", but I know Google is really weird about making local listing changes. I've seen and heard about countless listings falling completely off the map after being updated. Any advice appreciated.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Joes_Ideas0 -
How long is the google sandbox these days?
Hello, I'm putting up a new site for the first time in a while. How long is the Google Sandbox these days, and what has changed about it. Before it was 6 months to 1 year long. Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BobGW0 -
Changing a url from .html to .com
Hello, I have a client that has a site with a .html plugin and I have read that its best to not have this. We currently have pages ranking with this .html plug in. However If we take the plug in out will we lose rankings? would we need a 301 or something?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | SEODinosaur0 -
Check Google ban on domainname
Hello all, If I wanted to know if a domainname has a google ban on it would the following be a good idea to test it. Place an article on the domain page with unique content and then link to the page so its gets indexed and then link to the article from a well indexed page. If it doesn't get indexed there might be a ban on the page, if it does get indexed there is no ban on the page... Or are there other points I should keep in mind while doing this. All help is very welcome. Cheers, Arnout
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | hellemans0