SEO and Google Infinite Scroll

The rumour mill is buzzing with talk of a forthcoming Google search engine feature – infinite scroll. Infinite scroll would essentially mean that when users search for something, they would not be restricted to just ten results on the first page. In fact, the first page would be the only page. As happens presently on Twitter, when a user reached the ‘bottom’ of the page, more results would load up – thus the user is able to continue to infinitely scroll through results.

As a Google user, I think this is an excellent feature and I really hope it’s implemented.

From a SEO perspective though, I am still undecided as to whether I’m happy about it or not.

What Will Infinite Scroll Mean for SEO?

Quite frankly, we simply don’t know for sure until it’s rolled out and we can start gathering and analysing data. But here are a few likely consequences:

• Click through rate from results 4 – 10 will drop drastically!

• Achieving position 1, 2 and 3 will therefore offer a more noticeable jump in CTR

• Titles and descriptions will have a larger impact on CTR to your site, as users will be able to ‘browse’ more results in a shorter space of time.

• You will start to see a wider range of keywords for which you are not ranking in the top 10 (and that you are perhaps not even targeting) referring small quantities of traffic to your website. Positions 11-30 in particular, I believe, will enjoy an increase in traffic.

If infinite scroll rolls out (and lets face it, we’re highly unlikely to get any real notice and are in fact much more likely to just wake up and find it there one day) then I believe it will be a hit with users. I believe it will be of particular benefit mobile users who rarely (even more rarely than desktop users) ever go beyond the first 10 results. There’ll be mixed reactions from SEOs… but then again, isn’t that the case with any Google update?