Google lately made a switch in mobile search outcomes. It is termed continuous scrolling, and while it’s a trivial tweak to the SERPs, it might influence your SEO.
For example, you might see it on single-page sites that list product features or on eCommerce sites with a large assortment of products. So first, let’s understand the quality. But before that, let us engage with what is continuous scrolling.
Continuous scrolling is a commonly used feature and one you’re probably quite familiar with. If you’ve always been on Facebook or Twitter, you have then seen it in action. Similarly, if you’ve ever used Google Image search, then you should know what we’re talking about. Also referred to as endless scrolling, items on the page are only loaded once the user scrolls down to them. Content is loaded continuously as you get to it until you reach the bottom. It removes the need for pagination or for the user to click to the next page. Many websites make use of this feature.
You always learn marketers talking about the difference between page one and page two in SEO. However, if you’ve completed any mobile Google searches in the U.S. lately, you might have marked the issues keep going as you scroll. That’s because rather than breaking the outcomes down into pages, Google now displays four pages worth of results through continuous scrolling. But, of course, endless scrolling isn’t limited to Google. Traditionally, we’ve employed pagination to break up information on the web. However, this requires people to keep tapping. Particularly on mobile, this isn’t excellent for user experience.
Effects of Continuous Scrolling
The answer is…it continues to be seen. Continuous scrolling will undoubtedly improve how we interact with the SERPs. Still, without pagination, your exact location on the scroll—your search engine outcomes from the position rather than a page—-will mean more than ever.
Keep a Closer Eye on the Data: While marketers frequently focus on the information we can gather from Google Analytics, like bounce rates, visitors, and time on page, the data in Google Search Console (GSC) can be evenly important. For instance, you can understand how your page ranks for a search term and the click-through rate it gets. So if you begin noticing significant fluctuations in your CTR on mobile, it could be partially due to continuous scrolling.
Optimize to Highlight in Rich Results: One approach to optimizing for continuous scrolling is to ensure you’re doing schema markup well. Schema is like a language that enables you to communicate with the search engines and show them what pages are about and which parts are most important. So, ideally, you’re more likely to perform well in local results, featured snippets, and commonly asked questions using Schema markup.
Concentrate on Your Titles and Metas: The higher competition there is for clicks, the higher you’ve got to accept the limited real estate you should stand out. For standard results, this suggests optimizing your titles and meta descriptions. It’s effortless to get drawn to the rich outcomes, but people are still scanning for the same thing they perpetually have—quick admittance to information. The correct title and meta description can assure people they will get this. So you’ve got to seize people’s attention, balance user intent, and provide people confidence that you’re going to solve their questions.
Page One Click-Through Rate (CTR) Will Decrease: When page two outcomes are more accessible, the CTR for page one results is likely to fall. Continuous scrolling has the quality of a newsfeed from social media, so people are more likely to investigate their options. As a result, people might get more conventional to scrolling through the outcomes with time, likely impacting CTRs for page one results. However, it’s still not time to commence celebrating if you’re abandoned on page two.
There May Be More Ideas for Page Two Results: People will get more impressions if you make it easier to access page two results. The difficulty is, you’re also encouraging people to scroll through the results and explore their rights further, so they won’t necessarily end on page two. Pages on page two of the outcomes might get some more responses.
More Rich Results: Imagine a news feed on social media; you see many images and videos. Google’s equivalent is vibrant results that include features like shopping, featured snippets, video, FAQs, and much more. The more users seem comfortable scrolling the SERPs, the more comfortable it is for Google to incorporate rich results. With static pages, it’s confronting to have several rich elements because it would be overkill. With continuous scrolling, this becomes more manageable from a user experience viewpoint.
More Zero-Click Searches: Zero-click searches have been overgrowing across the years. There are many causes people might not click on events, but possibly the most significant one is they took all the information they require from rich outcomes or meta descriptions. So if continuous scrolling results in more valuable features, it may indicate more zero-click hunts.
Desktop Will Follow: One of the causes continuous scrolling has been rolled out on mobile is because it matches better with the user experience. On desktop, it’s simple to tap the “see more” button. If Google sees encouraging results from continuous scrolling, like enhanced ad revenue and increased UX, continuous scrolling will likely flow out on the desktop.
Wrap Up
Continuous scrolling doesn’t mean you require to rip up the SEO rulebook. It’s a SERP change created to improve user experience. With extra pages results being more accessible, it might indicate a drop in CTR for the top results. However, those outcomes may remain on top if they present the most credible and immediate information. As long as you’re doing the basics properly, you shouldn’t have difficulty.
