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2.4 Pagination & Index-Control Suite

60 checks in Crawlability & Site Architecture. Automated Its subsection has a live automated checker in the engine.

IDCheckPasses whenWeightRuns
2.4.01Detect presence of rel="next" and rel="prev" on paginated pagesPresent if multi-page seriesCriticalDeterministic
2.4.02Validate rel="next" and rel="prev" form a bidirectional chainCorrect chainCriticalDeterministic
2.4.03Validate pagination URLs resolve to HTTP 200200HeavyDeterministic
2.4.04Validate canonical for paginated pages points to self, not page1Self-canonical (modern standard)HeavyDeterministic
2.4.05Validate page 1 canonical points to page 1Correct canonicalHeavyDeterministic
2.4.06Validate title tag includes “Page X”PresentMediumDeterministic
2.4.07Validate H1 includes “Page X”PresentMediumDeterministic
2.4.08Validate meta description includes pagination indicatorYesMediumDeterministic
2.4.09Ensure paginated pages are NOT canonicalized to page 1 (old Google guideline)Self-canonicalCriticalDeterministic
2.4.10Ensure paginated pages are NOT noindexed unless intentionalIndexableCriticalDeterministic
2.4.11Ensure pagination does not cause infinite loopsNo loopHeavyDeterministic
2.4.12Detect soft-404s in paginated seriesNoneHeavyDeterministic
2.4.13Check pagination URLs for uppercaseLowercaseMediumDeterministic
2.4.14Validate pagination slash consistencyConsistentMediumDeterministic
2.4.15Validate pagination does not include URL parameters unless filterClean URLsHeavyDeterministic
2.4.16Validate <link rel="canonical"> appears before </head>Correct placementMediumDeterministic
2.4.17Validate <meta name="robots"> matches intended index/noindexCorrectMediumDeterministic
2.4.18Validate <meta name="robots"> is not overwritten by JSNo JS rewritesMediumDeterministic
2.4.19Detect JS injecting “noindex” or “nofollow” on paginated pagesNoneCriticalDeterministic
2.4.20Validate paginated URLs appear in sitemap if indexablePresence if requiredHeavyDeterministic
2.4.21Validate paginated URLs appear in internal link graphDiscoverableMediumDeterministic
2.4.22Validate page 1 is NOT treated as duplicate of canonical homepageDistinct CanonicalCriticalDeterministic
2.4.23Detect missing rel="next" on page 1PresentMediumDeterministic
2.4.24Detect missing rel="prev" on page 2+PresentMediumDeterministic
2.4.25Validate correct rel="next" on all pages except lastCorrect chainHeavyDeterministic
2.4.26Validate correct rel="prev" on all pages except firstCorrect chainHeavyDeterministic
2.4.27Validate pagination numbering consistency (page/2/, page/3/)ConsistentMediumDeterministic
2.4.28Detect pagination using query parameters (e.g., ?page=2)Avoid unless requiredMediumDeterministic
2.4.29Validate canonical logic if using ?page=2Self-canonicalMediumDeterministic
2.4.30Ensure pagination does not load infinite scroll without SEO fallbackFallback presentMediumDeterministic
2.4.31Detect infinite scroll pages without paginated URLsProvide paginated URLsHeavyDeterministic
2.4.32Validate paginated series follow linear chain (no jumps)No gapsHeavyDeterministic
2.4.33Validate all paginated pages are indexable unless intentionally noindexTrueHeavyDeterministic
2.4.34Detect paginated pages with duplicate title tagsUniqueMediumDeterministic
2.4.35Detect paginated pages with duplicate H1sUniqueMediumDeterministic
2.4.36Detect paginated pages with identical meta descriptionsUniqueMediumDeterministic
2.4.37Validate pagination footer navigation linksPresentHeavyDeterministic
2.4.38Validate pagination header navigation linksPresentHeavyDeterministic
2.4.39Ensure pagination links use <a> not JSTrueMediumDeterministic
2.4.40Validate next/prev text is indexable (not hidden)VisibleMediumDeterministic
2.4.41Validate <meta rel="prev"> and <meta rel="next"> not misusedCorrectMediumDeterministic
2.4.42Ensure noindex does NOT accidentally apply to entire paginated seriesProper noindex logicCriticalDeterministic
2.4.43Evaluate breadcrumb behavior in paginated pagesStable breadcrumbMediumDeterministic
2.4.44Validate structured data includes page number where requiredPresentMediumDeterministic
2.4.45Validate OpenGraph URL for paginated pagesCorrectMediumDeterministic
2.4.46Validate Twitter Card URL for paginated pagesCorrectMediumDeterministic
2.4.47Check if pagination supports rel="canonical" self-referenceYesHeavyDeterministic
2.4.48Check if canonical for tag/category archives is correctYesMediumDeterministic
2.4.49Validate noindex on thin tag/category archivesValid usageMediumDeterministic
2.4.50Validate category hierarchy canonical mappingCorrectMediumDeterministic
2.4.51Validate indexability of filtered/search pagesNoindex unless valuableHeavyDeterministic
2.4.52Validate pagination interacts correctly with faceted navigationCorrectHeavyDeterministic
2.4.53Validate noindex for duplicate filtered URLsCorrectMediumDeterministic
2.4.54Detect infinite URL patterns (/page/9999/)NoneHeavyDeterministic
2.4.55Validate canonical on parameterized pagination (?p=2)Self-refMediumDeterministic
2.4.56Ensure site does not expose duplicate pagination patterns (two URLs for same page)NoneCriticalDeterministic
2.4.57Validate pagination internal link anchors include rel="nofollow" only where logicalCorrectMediumDeterministic
2.4.58Validate pagination link placement not hidden or inaccessibleVisibleMediumDeterministic
2.4.59Validate proper canonical & index-control interactionNo canonical/noindex conflictsHeavyDeterministic
2.4.60Compute index-control & pagination composite score>= 85%CriticalDeterministic

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