Google Discontinues Continuous Scroll in Search Results

In a surprising move, Google has announced the end of its continuous scroll feature for search results. This change begins rolling out, returning to the classic pagination system that long-time Google users will find familiar.

Desktop users will be the first to notice the change. Instead of automatically loading more results as users scroll down, they'll see a traditional pagination bar at the bottom of the search results page. This bar will include a "Next" button to navigate to subsequent results pages.

Mobile users aren't being left out of this update, though their experience won't change immediately. Google plans to remove continuous scrolls from mobile search results in the coming months. When the change takes effect, mobile users will see a "More results" button at the bottom of their search results, replacing the current seamless loading of additional results.

This decision comes relatively soon after the introduction of continuous scroll. The feature was first implemented for mobile search in October 2021 and later expanded to desktop in December 2022, meaning it lasted only about a year and a half on the desktop platform.

According to a Google spokesperson, the primary motivations behind this change are improved speed and user satisfaction. By reverting to a paginated system, Google aims to serve search results faster on more queries. The company found that automatically loading additional results didn't lead to a significant increase in user satisfaction with Search.

This move also aligns with a philosophy of user control – rather than automatically loading results that users haven't explicitly requested, Google is putting the choice back in users' hands. Those who want to see more results can do so deliberately by clicking "Next" or "More results."

As with any major change to a widely-used service, user reactions are likely to be mixed. Some may welcome the return to a more traditional search experience, while others might miss the convenience of endless scrolling. However, Google's decision suggests that the benefits of this change outweigh any potential drawbacks in terms of overall user experience and system performance.

As this change rolls out, users are encouraged to provide feedback to Google about their experiences with the new (old) search results format. It remains to be seen whether this marks a permanent return to pagination or if Google will continue to experiment with different ways of presenting search results in the future.

What are your thoughts? Do you prefer the classic paginated results or the continuous scroll? How do you think this might impact digital marketing strategies?

#GoogleSearch #SEO #DigitalMarketing #UserExperience