The continuous scroll: how Google’s redesigned search results pages have changed SEO

Updated October 2026. Google ended continuous scroll in 2024, so we’ve rewritten this post to explain what happened and what matters on Google’s results pages now.

What continuous scroll was

For most of Google’s history, a search showed ten results and a row of page numbers. To see more, you clicked through to page two. Continuous scroll, also called infinite scroll, removed that step: as you reached the bottom of the results, the next set loaded by itself.

We first published this post in June 2024, when continuous scroll had been on desktop for about 18 months. We argued that it was closing the gap between the tenth result and the eleventh, and that pages ranking just off page one would get more visits. Eleven days later, Google announced it was ending the feature.

How it started and ended

• October 2021: continuous scroll arrives in Google’s mobile results.
• December 2022: it arrives on desktop.
• June 25, 2024: Google stops loading more results automatically on desktop and brings back the page numbers. Google told Search Engine Roundtable that the change lets it serve faster results on more searches, instead of loading results people haven’t asked for, and that phones would follow in the coming months.
• October 2024: continuous scroll ends on phones too, as Search Engine Roundtable reported.

Page one matters as much as ever

With results back in pages, the old rule holds again. To get clicks, a page needs to be on page one, ideally near the top. A result in eleventh place sits behind a click again.

If your pages tend to rank between 11 and 20, treat them as the ones closest to a win. Search Console’s Performance report shows each page’s average position and the searches it appears for, so you can see which pages are close to page one and improve those first.

Since then, AI answers have moved above the results

Many results pages now start with an AI answer:

• AI Overviews are AI-written summaries with links to sources, shown above the regular results. Google began rolling them out to everyone in the US on May 14, 2024.
• AI Mode is a separate tab for longer questions and follow-ups. Google rolled it out across the US from May 20, 2025.

These answers take clicks away from the links below them. The Pew Research Center tracked the browsing of 900 US adults in March 2025. When an AI summary appeared, people clicked a regular search result on 8% of visits, against 15% when there was no summary. They clicked a link inside the summary on just 1%.

What to do about it

• Aim for the top of page one for the searches that bring you business, and work first on the pages already close.
• Be the clearest answer. Google says its AI features draw on the same pages and the same basics as regular search, with no special tricks. Pages that answer a question directly, in plain words, are easier to quote. Our guide to optimizing your website for AI search has a checklist.
• Add structured data where it fits. It can earn your listing extras such as star ratings, prices or event dates, which take up more of the page. Our guide to structured data explains it.
• Look after your Google Business Profile if you serve a local area. The map results often sit near the top of local searches, and Google says they are mainly based on relevance, distance and popularity.
• Keep the site fast and mobile-friendly. Google now crawls and indexes sites as a phone sees them, so the mobile version is the one that counts.

Want more visits from search?

Google’s results pages will keep changing, but the work that earns clicks stays the same: useful pages, a fast site and clear answers. See our SEO and AI search work, or get in touch and we’ll talk through your site.