Google kills infinite scroll on search results, brings back pagination

Google is reverting back to its tried and tested method of displaying search results

(Credit: The Shortcut)

• 👏 Google is bringing back pagination at the bottom of search results

• 👋 It replaced pagination with infinite scrolling back in 2021 on mobile and 2022 on desktop

• 🤔 Google says the move will help serve more search results faster

• 👍 The change will likely benefit websites and users as a whole

Google isn’t afraid to kill off its innovations or companies – just take a look at Killed by Google for proof of that fact. And now it’s even reverting some of the changes it introduced for its search engine.

Say goodbye to infinite scroll search results, and hello to the classic pagination we all grew up with. Google is removing continuous scrolling from desktop search results immediately and will also bring back pagination to mobile “in the coming months.”

Google removed the familiar numbers at the bottom of search results in December 2022 and even earlier on mobile in October 2021. So why the change?

Google told Search Engine Land that “this change is to allow the search company to serve the search results faster on more searches, instead of automatically loading results that users haven’t explicitly requested.”

That’s a rather vague statement and doesn’t exactly explain the company’s U-turn. However, the return of paginated numbers will probably please most. Scrolling continuously in search of the content you want has never felt as intuitive, and many websites will have missed out on potential clicks as users give up and adjust their search parameters.

It seems like searches were also offering up irrelevant results, according to Google’s statement.

While Google has developed a rather notorious reputation for sunsetting its products without giving them a chance, it should also be commended for being able to return to something that worked before.

Now it just needs to find a way to integrate its AI Overview search results in a better way, especially as users have been served with misinformation, such as adding glue to a pizza to improve its tackiness.

• Next: Google Pixel 9 launch to leapfrog Apple's iPhone 16 event on August 13

Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.