Google Infinite Scrolling, Could It Effect SEO?

Rumours are circulating the internet that Google could soon make a drastic change to its usability and design, by integrating ‘infinite scrolling’ to its SERP’s (search engine results pages).

These rumours are fuelled by the fact that this very system has already been implemented with its image search, with users no longer clicking different pages of results, but rather continuously scrolling down one page with all the results on, and the search and side bars following them down the page – so that the search filters and terms can be changed at any time.

If carried out this may prove to be more efficient usage for the person searching, however in SEO terms, it could change things massively. The main objective of SEO is to rank higher for your chosen keywords, usually, to become ‘page 1 on Google’, however, in a world where there is no page 1, or, everything is page 1, some could suffer massively whilst others could find benefit.

Even with infinite scrolling, it is still highly likely that the first 10 results would take a large majority of the click through rate, however those on pages below such as 2 and 3 may also gain some benefit from the ‘league table’ style layout, as they can simply be scrolled down to with ease, or even in some cases be seen on the same screen as a higher ranking website, therefore instilling more confidence of them in the users mind, rather than them being completely missed due to apprehensive ‘searchers’ not wanting to delve into ‘dark’ lower pages.

On the flip side however, those further down could be hugely disadvantaged with this new system, as rather than being, for example, 1 of 10 results on page 7, they could simply be lost in the middle of a huge page of results, making it much easier for the user to simply overlook them, or make it more difficult for them to find them in future if they wish to return to that result.

Either way, one thing is for sure, having a stong presence on Google is still of paramount importance to the success of you and your business online, and SEO is most definitely, not “dead”.

For more information regarding SEO for your company, please get in touch with the dijitul team today on 01623 650333 for a friendly chat.