Google announced yesterday that it is rolling out what they are calling "continuous scrolling" on the mobile search results. Google is not calling it infinite scroll, because the scroll does not infinitely scroll, it should stop after page four or so - but nevertheless there is a continuous scroll being rolled out on mobile.
We actually saw Google testing this earlier this year, but Google has been known for testing infinite scroll over the years, including in 2019, 2015, 2011 and more.
This does replace the more results button for the first four pages. More results I think was renamed to "see more" at some point as well.
Here is Google's GIF of it in action:
How much does it scroll?
After you scroll a bit, it does eventually stop. The blog post explains more.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) October 14, 2021
You get through what would have been four pages of results, then you're going to get a "See more" button if you want to see more. And when the button appears, that's also where the footer info would appear.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) October 14, 2021
And Google posted more clarification:
Continuous scroll also does not change how position reporting works in Search Console. Positions reporting remains as if pages weren’t automatically loaded.
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) October 14, 2021
Google said it is rolling out gradually for most English searches on mobile in the U.S.
In terms of Search Console reporting, this has no impact on that:
Nothing changes for Search Console - position is position. We don't track pages there.
— 🧀 John 🧀 (@JohnMu) October 14, 2021
I don't have insight into what 3rd-party rank trackers do here -- they usually operate outside of our terms of service anyway.
I suspect you'd see that if you use the network tab in Chrome when loading & scrolling through a search result set. (I don't think they're live everywhere at the moment, so it might be hard to check.)
— 🧀 John 🧀 (@JohnMu) October 18, 2021
The joke all SEOs are saying is that you are all now on page one. :)
Impact To Google Ads
Seems like there is none, Google wrote "this change is rolling out over the next two weeks starting today, and does not affect how the ad auction works or the way Ad Rank is calculated." Here is the Q&A posted:
Is there any change to where my ads can show on the search results page? Our systems recalculate Ad Rank for each search results page to ensure that the most relevant and helpful ads are shown at the top. As part of this change to how search results show, we’re redistributing the number of text ads that can show between the top and bottom of pages for US-English mobile queries. Now, text ads can show at the top of the second page and beyond, while fewer text ads will show at the bottom of each page. There is no change to how Shopping and Local ads show.
Can my ads show more than once for the same query? Yes. Ads have always been eligible (based on Ad Rank) to show on a search results page and again on a subsequent page. Our systems calculate your Ad Rank for each page and take into account whether your ad was shown on a previous page.
What should I expect as a result of this change? Search, Shopping, and Local campaigns that serve ads on US-English queries may see more mobile impressions, which could result in lower CTR. We expect clicks, conversions, average CPC, and average CPA to remain flat.
Additionally, Search campaigns may see more impressions from top ads and fewer impressions from bottom ads. To understand your performance based on where your text ads show on the search results page, consider segmenting your performance data by “Top vs. Other” and reviewing your prominence metrics. There is no change to these reports.
We recommend monitoring your campaigns and continuing to optimize them based on your business objectives. This change to mobile search results is expected to roll out to additional countries and languages next year.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
