G9 — Chapter 7 - Technical SEO

Criterion G9: Correct Pagination — guide + checklist

PART 1 - Fundamentals Chapter 7 - Technical SEO Keyword : pagination correcte

This is typically the kind of detail that avoids conflicting signals.

Criterion G9 — Correct Pagination is part of our SEO checklist (335 criteria). Here, you have a practical method to check and fix it — with a concrete example.

What exactly this criterion covers

This is typically the kind of detail that avoids conflicting signals.

G9 — Correct Pagination (Chapter 7 - Technical SEO): rel=canonical to page 1 or view-all, or allow indexing of all pages.

Why it matters (SEO + UX)

Why it matters: it is a technical quality factor (crawl, rendering, indexing). When poorly applied, we often observe: ambiguity (wrong associated query), duplication between pages, or performance loss on loading time.

On volume-generated sites, this criterion also serves as a safeguard: a stable rule prevents 1,000 errors at once.

How to check (step by step)

Approach: express audit (manual + 1 tool). Recommended tool: Chrome DevTools Network.

  1. Open the page in Chrome → DevTools → Performance/Network tab.
  2. Run Lighthouse and note the main weak point.
  3. Check if the problem repeats on templates.

Tip: first isolate 10 representative URLs (top pages + generated pages) before scaling the fix.

How to fix properly

Strategy: make a clean fix (no patch), then measure.

  • Fix the biggest cost source (images, JS, fonts, cache).
  • Retest, then apply to the template (not page by page).
  • Add a safeguard: weight budget (KB) and CI check if possible.

Then: recrawl 50–200 URLs, then monitor Search Console over 7–14 days (impressions/CTR/indexing).

Concrete example (illustrative)

Example (illustrative):

  • Context: service landing page for real estate in Paris
  • Before: Lighthouse: 29/100 (heavy JS, unoptimized images).
  • After: Lighthouse: 75/100 (lazy-load, compression, cache).
  • Note: Goal: stabilize CLS.

Checklist to tick

  • [ ] Measure before/after
  • [ ] Complies: all
  • [ ] Improvement on template
  • [ ] No CWV regression
  • [ ] Cache and compression OK
FAQ

Frequently asked questions — G9

What is the most common mistake on “Correct Pagination”?

Trying to “optimize” by adding too many keywords, which degrades readability and creates repetitions.

Which tool is the fastest for large-scale checking?

For this type of criterion, a crawl (e.g. Screaming Frog) plus targeted verification in Chrome DevTools Network is generally the fastest combo.

How to prevent this from happening on 10K generated pages?

Freeze an auto-generation rule (title/structure/schema/URLs) plus add automatic control (crawl or test) before production import.

Ready to go from theory to action?

Validate this criterion with an audit, then deepen the method in the Academy.

Audit with the tool → Learn in the Academy →