Make paginated category pages search-friendly

Prompt that sets rules for paginated category pages so that all products stay findable. Paste it into an AI tool of your choice, which then sets the pagination rules.

Topic: SEO & website copy
Type: Prompt
Level: Intermediate
Time: about 15 min

Results depend on the tool, the model and what you enter.

Result preview

Example: written by our editors, not real AI output.

Finding: pages 2–9 point to page 1 via canonical Finding: same title on every page Rules: - /shoes/?page=3 canonical to itself - title: "Shoes – page 3" - sort orders: noindex - empty pages beyond the end: 404 Test: crawl without JavaScript

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PagesWhich pages are affected?

SetupHow is paging built?

ProblemWhat is the issue?

Your prompt

Help me make paginated category pages search-friendly.
Pages: [Pages]
Setup: [Setup]
Problem: [Problem]
Approach: 1. Describe how page 2, 3 and further pages are built: address, links, sorting and filters. 2. Check whether every page has its own address that works without JavaScript and is linked with normal links. 3. Check canonical tags: each page should point to itself, not to page 1. 4. Propose titles and short descriptions that differ per page number. 5. Check how many clicks deep the last products are and whether more items per page or better subcategories would help. 6. List what should not be indexed, such as sort orders and empty pages beyond the last one.
Output: findings per point, recommended rules for addresses, links, canonical tags and titles, and a test list.

Take particular care to give every page its own address and link and keep sort orders out of the index.

Before you answer, check: Are all instructions met? If key information is missing or a placeholder in square brackets is still in the text, ask instead of guessing. Mark assumptions as assumptions.

Help me make paginated category pages search-friendly.
Pages: [Pages]
Setup: [Setup]
Problem: [Problem]
Approach: 1. Describe how page 2, 3 and further pages are built: address, links, sorting and filters. 2. Check whether every page has its own address that works without JavaScript and is linked with normal links. 3. Check canonical tags: each page should point to itself, not to page 1. 4. Propose titles and short descriptions that differ per page number. 5. Check how many clicks deep the last products are and whether more items per page or better subcategories would help. 6. List what should not be indexed, such as sort orders and empty pages beyond the last one.
Output: findings per point, recommended rules for addresses, links, canonical tags and titles, and a test list.

Take particular care to give every page its own address and link and keep sort orders out of the index.

Before you answer, check: Are all instructions met? If key information is missing or a placeholder in square brackets is still in the text, ask instead of guessing. Mark assumptions as assumptions.

This is an instruction for an AI, not the result itself.

Where this prompt works

These AI tools are a good fit for this prompt:

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How to use it

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Copy the finished prompt into an AI tool of your choice.
Paste the addresses of pages 1 to 3 and the relevant head tags; a short description of the template is enough.

Why does this work?

Products on page five are only found if crawlers can reach page five with a normal link. Clear rules keep the whole range visible.

Tips

Change canonical tags and robots rules on many pages only after testing them on a few.

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Make paginated category pages search-friendly

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