Just keep scrolling, just keep scrolling… Google announced it’s rolling out continuous scrolling to desktop search results. This comes after the search giant introduced continuous scrolling in mobile search results in October 2021.
From a searcher’s perspective, this should, in theory, eliminate the preconceived notions that it’s page 1 or bust and search results on pages 2, 3, and so on aren’t any good. Instead, scrolling beyond the first group of organic search results will feel seamless, encourage longer scrolling, and give searchers a better chance at finding the best result for their query.
From an SEO perspective, eliminating searcher obstructions like clicking from one page to the next should increase the click-through rate and impression count for lower-ranking pages. To put it simply; the longer people scroll, the more pages they see, and the more likely they are to click on a high-quality page that never quite reached page one.
Should is the keyword here.
Have we noticed a difference?
When comparing the months leading up to the October 2021 update and the months immediately following, we haven’t noticed an increase in mobile impressions and click-through rates. However, these updates take time to roll out fully, and we do expect to see a shift at some point.
It’s too soon to come to a conclusion, but there’s some comfort in knowing a high-quality page that was struggling to jump from page 2 to 1, or even 3 to 2, stands a better chance at being discovered today than it did in the past.
As with every Google update, nothing is guaranteed. Predicting how the latest update will impact your own site is difficult, but this one does seem promising.
And if nothing else, at least we can all say we’re on page 1!
December 14, 2022