Pagination

Pagination is the practice of dividing content or data into separate pages, often used for long lists, search results, or articles. Pagination allows users to navigate through large sets of information more easily, providing clear controls to jump between pages (e.g., “Next,” “Previous,” or numbered links). Proper pagination improves site performance and user experience, especially on websites with large amounts of content.

The choice between pagination and infinite scroll fundamentally shapes how users experience your content. Pagination is better when users need to find specific items, compare options across pages, or share a specific result position. Infinite scroll is better when the goal is browsing and discovery with no specific end point. Getting this wrong — infinite scroll on a support ticket list, pagination on a social feed — creates friction that's hard for users to articulate but immediately felt.

Google Search uses traditional pagination despite being the world's most-used search product — because search users have a specific goal and need to track their progress ('I checked the first three pages') in a way that infinite scroll would make impossible.