Google is discontinuing infinite scroll for search results

According to a report from Search Engine Land, the latest feature to be discontinued by Google is continuous scrolling on search results. As we discussed in a previous article, originally introduced for mobile devices in October 2021 and extended to desktop search results in late 2022, this feature mimicked the endless scrolling behavior seen on social media feeds.

A Google spokesperson reportedly informed Search Engine Land that continuous scroll will be removed from desktop search results now, while the feature will be phased out from mobile results in the coming months. In place of continuous scrolling on desktop, Google will reinstate the classic pagination bar, allowing users to jump to specific pages of search results or click Next to view the following page. On mobile, a More results button will appear at the bottom of the search to load additional results.

Google explained to Search Engine Land that "this change is intended to allow the search company to deliver search results faster across more searches, rather than automatically loading results that users haven't explicitly requested".