Official statement
Other statements from this video 23 ▾
- □ Google compte-t-il vraiment tous les liens visibles dans Search Console ?
- □ Faut-il vraiment concentrer son contenu sur moins de pages pour ranker ?
- □ Les critères d'avis produits Google s'appliquent-ils même si votre site n'est pas classé comme site d'avis ?
- □ L'API Indexing de Google fonctionne-t-elle vraiment pour tous les contenus ?
- □ L'E-A-T influence-t-il vraiment le classement Google ou n'est-ce qu'un mythe ?
- □ Les mentions de marque sans lien ont-elles un impact sur votre référencement ?
- □ Les commentaires d'utilisateurs améliorent-ils vraiment le classement dans Google ?
- □ Les certificats SSL premium influencent-ils vraiment le référencement Google ?
- □ PDF et HTML avec le même contenu : faut-il craindre une cannibalisation dans les SERPs ?
- □ Peut-on vraiment piloter l'indexation des PDF via les headers HTTP ?
- □ Googlebot peut-il vraiment indexer vos contenus en défilement infini ?
- □ Faut-il vraiment indexer toutes les pages de son site ?
- □ Faut-il s'inquiéter de la page référente affichée dans Google Search Console ?
- □ Faut-il vraiment rediriger l'ancien sitemap en 301 ou soumettre le nouveau directement ?
- □ Pourquoi 97% de crawl refresh est-il un signal positif pour votre site ?
- □ Comment Google détermine-t-il réellement la vitesse de crawl de votre site ?
- □ Vitesse de crawl et Core Web Vitals : pourquoi Google fait-il la distinction ?
- □ Pourquoi Google ralentit-il son crawl après un changement d'hébergement ?
- □ Le paramètre de taux de crawl est-il vraiment un plafond et non un objectif ?
- □ Le CTR peut-il vraiment pénaliser le reste de votre site ?
- □ Le maillage interne est-il vraiment l'élément le plus déterminant pour le SEO ?
- □ Le linking interne agit-il vraiment instantanément après recrawl ?
- □ Faut-il s'inquiéter si Google ne crawle pas toutes vos pages ?
Google has not taken rel=next and rel=prev tags into account for several years now. These HTML attributes meant to indicate relationships between paginated pages have zero impact on crawling, indexing, or ranking. Your time is better spent elsewhere.
What you need to understand
What was the original purpose of rel=next and rel=prev tags?
These link tags allowed webmasters to signal to Google the structure of a series of paginated pages. The idea? To indicate that a product list or article series spanned multiple pages, forming a coherent set rather than a collection of isolated pages.
In practice, these attributes were placed in the <head>: page 2 would point to page 1 (rel=prev) and page 3 (rel=next). Google was supposed to consolidate signals from these pages and optimize its crawl budget by understanding the relationship between them.
Why did Google abandon these tags?
The official reason: they didn't provide enough value and created more confusion than clarity. Implementations were often faulty — a missing tag, a duplicate URL, and the entire system became useless.
In reality, Google developed algorithms capable of detecting pagination without explicit help. The search engine analyzes URL structure, content, and internal linking patterns. It no longer needs you to hold its hand.
What happens if these tags are still present on my site?
Absolutely nothing. Google simply ignores them. They don't penalize, don't slow down crawling, and don't help either. It's dead code sitting in your <head>.
If you have time and resources, you can remove them to clean up your code. But it's not a priority — there are far more profitable SEO improvements to tackle.
- rel=next and rel=prev have not been used by Google for several years
- These tags were meant to signal pagination structure, but Google now detects this automatically
- Their presence has no positive or negative impact — they are simply ignored
- Removing them is cosmetic, not strategic
SEO Expert opinion
Is this statement consistent with real-world observations?
Completely. Comparative testing conducted by several SEO teams shows zero difference in crawling or indexing between sites with or without these tags. Google crawls paginated pages the same way whether they're tagged or not.
What actually influences Google's behavior on pagination: your URL structure, the quality of internal linking between paginated pages, and the presence or absence of filters/facets that create parasitic URLs. The rel tags were never more than a band-aid on architectural problems.
What alternatives actually work for managing pagination?
First step: verify that Google is indexing the right pages. Sometimes it indexes only page 1, sometimes all pages — and that's not always what you want. A site:yoursite.com inurl:page= search will give you a first overview.
If you want to force consolidation, the "View All" approach remains effective: a single URL displaying all results, with canonical tags from paginated pages pointing to it. But be careful with load times — a page with 500 products can become a burden for Core Web Vitals.
The other option: let Google index all paginated pages by optimizing each individually. This works well for e-commerce sites with deep category structures. Each page becomes a potential entry point, with its own adjusted title/meta description ("Running Shoes - Page 2").
Are there cases where this rule deserves nuance?
There isn't really any nuance here. Google has been clear and real-world data confirms it. Unlike other statements where you need to read between the lines, this one is factual and verifiable.
The only edge case: if you're optimizing for Bing or Yandex, which might still use these tags. But let's be honest — how many sites really invest in Bing-specific optimization in 2024? And even then, the impact is probably marginal.
Practical impact and recommendations
What should you actually do with these tags?
Nothing urgent. If they're already implemented, you can leave them — they don't cause harm. If you have development time available and you're redesigning your template, you might as well remove them to lighten your code.
However, don't waste another second implementing them on new projects. That time is better invested in optimizing your internal linking or writing better titles for each paginated page.
How do I verify that Google is handling my pagination correctly?
Start by analyzing indexed URLs via Google Search Console. Filter by URL pattern (page=, ?p=, /page/, depending on your structure) and verify which pages appear in the index.
Next, look at your server logs: Is Google crawling all your paginated pages or does it stop at page 3? If your category has 50 pages but only the first 5 are crawled regularly, it's a signal that your internal architecture isn't passing enough link juice to deeper pages.
Also test with GSC's URL inspection tool on a few paginated pages. Verify that Google considers them indexable and there are no unexpected canonical tags pointing elsewhere.
What mistakes should you avoid with modern pagination?
- Don't block pagination parameters in robots.txt — Google needs to crawl these URLs
- Avoid cascading canonicals that all point to page 1 if you want to index paginated pages
- Don't use noindex on pages 2+ unless you've explicitly chosen a "View All" strategy
- Beware of combined filters (color + size + price) that create thousands of valueless paginated URLs
- Make sure your "Next page" links are in classic HTML, not solely in JavaScript
- Optimize titles/meta descriptions of paginated pages — don't leave them identical to page 1
The depreciation of rel=next/prev doesn't require urgent action but frees up time for truly impactful optimizations: URL architecture, internal linking, and metadata optimization per page. These technical adjustments require careful analysis of your site and its behavior in logs. If your pagination is creating indexing or crawl budget problems, partnering with a specialized SEO agency for technical audits can save you precious time by quickly identifying bottlenecks and prioritizing fixes based on their real impact on your visibility.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Les balises rel=next et rel=prev pénalisent-elles mon site si je les garde ?
Dois-je utiliser des canonical sur mes pages paginées ?
Comment Google détecte-t-il la pagination sans ces balises ?
Bing et Yandex utilisent-ils encore rel=next et rel=prev ?
Quelle est la meilleure alternative pour gérer la pagination en SEO ?
🎥 From the same video 23
Other SEO insights extracted from this same Google Search Central video · published on 18/02/2022
🎥 Watch the full video on YouTube →
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