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Rel Next

Marks a page as the next in a paginated sequence, historically used to help search engines understand page relationships and consolidate signals.

If you still rely on rel="next" for Google indexing, you are following outdated advice that no longer affects crawling or ranking.

Key points

  • Replace rel="next" with crawlable internal links between adjacent pages.
  • Self-canonicalise each paginated page unless you deliberately use a view-all strategy.
  • Do not treat rel="next" as a duplicate content signal; it never was one.
  • Use rel="next" only if you need to document page order for human-read code maintenance.

A product list with 50 pages, rel="next" removed

An ecommerce site had 50 paginated category pages. Each page used rel="next" and rel="prev" as per older Google guidance. After Google announced it no longer uses these tags, the site removed them. Instead, they added clear "Previous" and "Next" links in the HTML, kept self-referencing canonicals, and ensured all pages were reachable via crawlable links. A technical audit showed no change in indexing or ranking, confirming the hint was redundant.

Three reasons this markup is no longer critical for SEO

  • Google stopped using it Google explicitly stated in 2019 (via SEO coverage) that rel="next" and rel="prev" are no longer signals for indexing or pagination discovery.
  • Other crawlers may still read it Bing or Yandex might still interpret the tag, but it is not a ranking factor. Rely on crawlable links instead.
  • Self-canonicalisation is preferred Each paginated page should canonicalise to itself. rel="next" does not replace a canonical tag for duplicate content handling.

Three common mistakes to avoid

  • Assuming it boosts rankings Treating rel="next" as a ranking signal instead of a navigation hint can lead to misplaced effort. It does not affect rankings.
  • Using it without adjacent links Adding rel="next" without functional next/previous links in the body means users and crawlers cannot navigate the sequence.
  • Pointing canonicals to page one A common old practice was to canonicalise all paginated pages to the first page. Modern SEO requires self-canonicals to avoid duplicated content issues in a technical audit.

Common questions

Does Google still use rel="next" for pagination?

No. Google announced it no longer uses rel="next" or rel="prev" as signals for indexing or pagination discovery.

Should I remove rel="next" from my site?

Yes, if you have no other reason to keep it. Ensure crawlable links and proper canonicals are in place first.

What replaces rel="next" for pagination SEO?

Crawlable internal links (previous/next), self-referencing canonicals, and a clean category architecture. A technical SEO audit can verify the setup.

Sources

  1. Google Search Central Blog: Pagination with rel="next" and rel="prev" Original 2011 guidance on using rel next/prev for pagination.
  2. MDN Web Docs: rel HTML attribute Technical reference for the rel attribute and its values.
  3. Google Search Central / Google announcement referenced in SEO coverage Google's announcement that rel next/prev are no longer used for indexing.
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