Mistake: infinite-scroll pagination Googlebot can't crawl

Mistake: infinite-scroll pagination Googlebot can't crawl

You replaced paginated category pages with infinite scroll. Looks great. Then deep products vanish from the index and you blame crawl budget for not reaching them.

Here's the thing — if "page 2" only loads via a scroll event with no crawlable <a href>, Googlebot has no link to follow. It can't scroll. It sees page one and stops. Those products aren't being under-crawled; they're undiscoverable.

The fix: back the infinite scroll with real paginated URLs (/category?page=2) using actual anchor links. Progressive enhancement — scroll for humans, links for crawlers.

Google has said for years it does not scroll and needs linked, crawlable pagination.

It's not a budget shortage. You removed the road and asked why the truck didn't arrive.