CRAWLING & INDEXING · SEO GLOSSARY
rel=prev/next
Deprecated HTML link attributes that Google formerly used to signal paginated content sequences — Google announced in 2019 it no longer uses rel=prev/next as an indexing signal.
Definition
rel=prev and rel=next were HTML link attributes added to paginated content sequences to tell Google that multiple pages were part of a single logical series. For a paginated article split across three pages, page 2 would have both `<link rel="prev" href="/article/page-1">` and `<link rel="next" href="/article/page-3">`. Bing still uses these signals as of 2024. Google announced in March 2019 that it had stopped using rel=prev/next as an indexing signal — Google confirmed it had been ignoring these signals for "a couple of years" before the announcement. The practical implication: rel=prev/next is no longer a recommended SEO implementation for pagination for Google. The current Google-recommended approaches for paginated content are: (1) let paginated pages be individually indexed (each page stands alone); (2) use a canonical tag on each paginated page pointing to the first page if all content on subsequent pages is duplicated on page 1; or (3) consolidate paginated content onto a single page using JavaScript loading if crawlability is not a concern.
Why it matters for SEO
Sites that still implement rel=prev/next are not penalised — they\'re just adding metadata Google ignores. However, technical SEO guides written before 2019 frequently recommend rel=prev/next, and some CMS plugins still generate these tags. Understanding that Google no longer uses them avoids wasted implementation effort and ensures pagination strategy focuses on approaches that actually work: canonical consolidation or individual page indexation. Bing still uses these signals, so maintaining them is not harmful and may be beneficial for Bing SEO specifically.
How DeepSEOAnalysis checks this
DeepSEOAnalysis detects rel=prev/next link tags on crawled pages and notes their presence as informational context. The audit also evaluates the alternative pagination signals that Google does use: whether paginated pages have canonical tags and where they point, whether paginated URL patterns are configured in sitemap.ts, and whether pagination pages carry noindex directives.
GLOSSARY
Related terms
technical
Pagination SEO
The practice of making paginated content (page 2, page 3…) crawlable, indexable, and correctly canonicalized so Google surfaces the right page for each query.
Read definition →technical
Canonical Tag
A canonical tag (rel="canonical") is an HTML link element that tells search engines which URL is the authoritative version of a page when duplicate or near-duplicate content exists at multiple URLs. It consolidates ranking signals from all duplicate variants to the canonical URL.
Read definition →technical
Crawl Budget
The number of pages Googlebot will crawl on a site within a given timeframe — determined by crawl rate limit and crawl demand.
Read definition →technical
Faceted Navigation
Filter-and-sort UI on category pages (color, size, price, brand) that generates a combinatorial explosion of parameter URLs — the most common source of crawl budget waste on e-commerce sites.
Read definition →See how your site scores on rel=prev/next.
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