Pagination, Load More or Infinite Scroll for a Product Catalogue?

Choose for the browsing task

A large product category cannot put every item into one initial response without making browsing heavy. The first choice is how people see the next subset: page links, a Load More control, or automatic infinite scroll. Google’s ecommerce guidance describes all three and notes the tradeoffs. Page links communicate position and let a shopper return to a known part of the collection. Load More preserves the current page while revealing additional items. Infinite scroll can feel fluid but makes the end and the current position harder to understand. The right choice depends on the task and catalogue size; none of the patterns alone guarantees search visibility or sales.

Begin with customer behaviour you can actually observe in your own store. Do shoppers compare a few products and come back from detail pages? Do they need a reliable point from which to resume browsing after adding an item to the basket? Is the collection small enough that a Load More button remains manageable, or does it contain many thousands of items? If analytics are unavailable, do not invent an answer. Walk a representative task yourself and ask test shoppers to find a product, revisit a previously seen item and reach the end of the category. Record confusion, lost position and delays. This is local decision evidence, not a universal benchmark.

Separate shopper interaction from how products are discovered by a crawler. Google says its crawlers generally find URLs in the href attribute of links; they do not click buttons or normally trigger JavaScript actions that require a person. Therefore a category that reveals all later products only after Load More or scrolling needs another crawlable route to those products. A useful foundation is a sequence of distinct category page URLs with real links to the next page and product detail pages. You may layer a richer browsing interface over that structure, but test the links rather than assuming a working human interaction also works for discovery.

Give each page a stable route

Google recommends a unique URL for each page of a paginated sequence, such as a page query parameter. Pick one consistent form for the first page and the following pages. A later page must contain its own subset of products when opened directly, not silently reset to page one or require a previous JavaScript session. Link sequentially with normal anchors so a crawler and a person can reach the next part. Consider a route back to the first page as an obvious collection starting point. Each product card should link to its actual detail URL, including when a product first appears on a later page.

Do not treat every paginated page as a duplicate of page one. Google’s ecommerce URL guide says each page in paginated results needs a unique URL. The pagination guidance says not to use the first page as the canonical for later pages; those later pages have different content. At the same time, alternate sort orders and filters create a separate URL decision and may need controls to avoid unwanted indexing. Keep this article’s base category sequence distinct from filtered combinations. When a product is removed or stock order changes, test whether a visitor opening a saved later-page URL still gets a sensible page, even if the exact items have changed.

A JavaScript Load More interface can still use the stable page sequence underneath. The button may fetch the next page and append cards, while a direct visit to that page URL presents the same next subset. Maintain a usable history or return position if the customer opens a product and comes back; otherwise the interface can erase the time spent browsing. For infinite scroll, expose an equivalent paginated path and give users a way to understand where they are and reach the footer. The implementation should not trap keyboard users in an endlessly expanding list or make product cards appear without a clear loading and completion state.

Use a small catalogue scenario to verify

Suppose a homeware shop has a category with enough products to span several result pages. A shopper sees an item on page three, opens it, then returns to compare the item immediately before it. In a page-link design, test the Back button, the page-three URL and focus position. In a Load More design, test whether the appended cards and scroll location survive the return. In infinite scroll, test the same return plus access to the bottom navigation and footer. These are experience checks, not claims that one design increases conversion. They reveal which pattern preserves the comparison task with the least confusion.

Now check discoverability without relying on the interface’s visible count. Open a later category page in a fresh browser session and verify that it returns a normal page with its own products. Inspect an actual anchor to the next page and an anchor to a product appearing only on that later page. Follow the links in both language versions if the shop has separate English and Chinese category routes. Check that canonical URLs and first-page convention match the chosen architecture. Use the store’s own crawl and indexing tools where available, but do not call a product indexed merely because it appears in a sitemap or on a rendered screen.

Finally, test change and failure. Add or remove an item near a page boundary, switch sorting, throttle the connection and let the next-page request fail. The shopper should not see duplicate cards, lose a selected filter, or be stranded without a retry path. The service should avoid empty later pages where possible and return an intentional response when a page number is no longer valid. Decide who owns catalogue URLs, frontend interaction and product data so a change in one layer is tested across the others. The release decision is a documented tradeoff: a usable browsing path, stable URLs and a verified route to products beyond the first screen.

Keep the sequence useful as the catalogue changes

Set a stable ordering rule for the base category, with a clear tie-breaker when products share the same sort value. If items jump between pages whenever stock or merchandising data refreshes, a shopper may see duplicates or miss an item while moving forward. This is especially noticeable in a Load More interface that appends results from several requests. Decide whether the shop will freeze a browsing snapshot, accept live changes with an explicit refresh, or use another consistency method supported by its platform. Test this with controlled catalogue edits before launch; do not assume a page number alone preserves a stable product list.

Keep result counts honest and useful. If the total is known, show it near the category title or Load More control; if it changes frequently or is expensive to calculate, avoid presenting a stale precise number as current. A shopper should know whether more products remain and whether a request is loading, finished or failed. At the end of a sequence, say that the end has been reached rather than leaving a disabled control without explanation. These signals reduce uncertainty on long lists and make the interaction understandable without requiring the customer to infer state from a spinner alone.

Review mobile costs and accessibility together. Smaller initial subsets can reduce the first transfer, but an interface that repeatedly appends cards may eventually consume substantial memory and make the page hard to navigate. Test a slow connection, a low-powered phone and keyboard navigation through a long list. Check that focus moves predictably after Load More and that a screen reader receives a sensible result update. The right page size is an implementation choice to validate with actual content and devices, not a universal number. Include long bilingual product names, sale labels and unavailable items in the test set.

Make the ownership and review date explicit. Search guidance can change, and a platform upgrade can alter how category links are rendered. Assign one person to verify the direct page URLs, canonical tags and product anchors after a template release, and another to confirm the browsing behaviour still works for customers. Capture an example first-page URL, later-page URL and product URL in the release note. That small record lets the team reproduce a defect without relying on memory or a temporary campaign link. Revisit the chosen pattern when the catalogue size or customer tasks change substantially.

Before paying for a custom infinite-scroll rebuild, check what the current commerce platform already renders. Some themes provide accessible page links underneath a Load More presentation; others replace them with a button-only request. Inspect the delivered markup and direct URL behaviour on the live template, including after a theme update. If the platform cannot expose stable later-page routes, the team may need a smaller intervention, such as visible pagination, while planning the deeper change. Price the choice in maintenance effort as well as design appearance: merchandising rules, translations, history behaviour and crawl tests will all need retesting when the catalogue template changes.