Google announces continuous scrolling for mobile search

The first page of Google is an ever-sought-after destination for businesses across the world, driving significantly more traffic and revenue than page two. 

But what if there was no ‘first’ page? What if there was just an endlessly refreshed list of search results? Would users scroll through more results? We think so.

Here, we discuss Google’s continuous mobile scrolling update (announced October 14^th), including why it’s important, how it works, and the exciting benefits we believe your business will see as a result.

Google’s elusive first page

There’s a running joke in the SEO world; where’s the best place to hide a body? The second page of Google! 

While there are more than five billion searches on Google every day (63% of which are through mobile devices, according to Statista), the vast majority never reach the second page. This is why SEO experts and digital marketers spend countless hours and implement innovative strategies to help their clients improve their rankings. But it’s not straightforward, or quick. For example, if you’re a small business in a competitive market, it can be cost prohibitive to reach page one. 

We hope continuous search will level the playing field a little, giving smaller businesses a better share of the traffic. 

What is continuous mobile scrolling?

Continuous mobile scrolling is a UX feature whereby users scroll through an endless stream of automatically refreshed results, meaning there is no need to click on to a second page. Social media platforms have utilised this for some time, with many users scrolling through their feeds for hours. 

Potential benefits to your business

The update is initially being rolled out in the US, but we’re confident the UK will not be far behind. In fact, it’s such a valuable feature that we predict desktop searching will most likely follow suit. If your business’ website is not in the top three positions for relevant searches, you could see an increase in organic traffic as more mobile users scroll continuously, before finding your service. This should naturally spread the CTR averages away from the top positions too, as users venture deeper into their searches. That being said, Google is unlikely to do anything to hurt Ad revenue, meaning that Google Ads will still be present as users scroll continuously. But if your website has a flawless customer journey, you should see the increase in traffic convert into more inquiries, purchases and, ultimately, revenue. 

We can’t wait to see the results from this new update, but we have a positive outlook. We expect it will be good news for all websites and SEO as more traffic should be generated by websites outside the top three positions. To learn more about how we improve traffic and revenue for clients, discover our digital marketing services or get in touch and tell us what you’d like to achieve.