Infinite scroll, but what is it? Simply the ability to scroll a web page's content endlessly, never seeing the end of the page.
This method is widely used on one-page sites notably or on some blogs. But is it really the most effective and most interesting for theuser experience ? Far from certain.
Fortunately, there are effective alternatives to infinite scroll and we've gathered them for you.
Infinite scroll: definition and benefits
Infinite scroll is a web design technique that allows content to be loaded continuously.
As the user scrolls a page, more information is presented without needing to click "See more" or "Next page." The goal? To offer a smoother browsing experience.
This method offers several advantages by allowing you to:
Keep visitors on the website
Social networks use infinite scroll to keep users on their platform.
When you're on Facebook, you can spend very long minutes scrolling your news feed… because it never stops! As soon as you reach the bottom of the page, the social network suggests new posts, which increases the time you spend on the site.
Promote a better mobile experience
Google offers continuous scrolling to mobile users. Indeed, on mobile, the results page isn’t numbered; it loads automatically as the user scrolls down.
It’s more convenient for the user than having to click a number or a “next page” link.
Guide prospects toward conversion
Infinite scroll is useful for keeping visitors engaged on your website. You can build pages that guide them toward conversion by starting, for example, with general articles before offering more specific content.
Increasingly “fed” by your practical information, the prospect will tend to continue their journey down the conversion funnel, up to identifying themselves or even converting.
Tell a story
To do storytelling, infinite scroll proves very effective! By scrolling content that tells a brand’s story, you captivate your audience.
They want to know more, to get to know you… Which gently guides them toward conversion.
Why isn't infinite scroll optimal?
Granted, infinite scroll has many advantages for your website. However, it is not always the most optimal solution.
This type of navigation can be extremely tedious for your visitors and potential customers. They need to easily view the articles and with this type of scrolling, it is often difficult to go back to find a previously viewed product.
This is not the only reason to switch to alternatives to infinite scroll…
Infinite scroll hides footer information
You may also have important information to communicate in your footer for example. Such as your company's contact details, links to the legal notice or terms and conditions of sale, the follow buttons on social networks… With infinite scroll, your visitors will never see this information.
A barrier to visitors' freedom to browse
More broadly, displaying content infinitely leaves little freedom of navigation for your visitors.
Depending on the sections they wish to visit, the products they want to view or the information they are trying to obtain, the scrolling constraint can be discouraging.
A negative impact on your SEO
Infinite scroll combines several web pages into one. They each have a URL, a meta description and a title tag unique. If you want to work on several keywords or long-tail keywords, it will be impossible with this web design method.
Furthermore, there is no guarantee that search engine crawlers will properly explore content that is loaded automatically. You may miss certain queries.
A poor backlink strategy
With infinite scroll, if a user clicks on a link pointing to your site, it can be difficult to determine which content they are sent to — especially if your page is regularly updated with fresh content…
Result: visitors coming from other sites may be disappointed when they arrive on your page and leave immediately.
Longer loading times
A website using infinite scroll has to load more content on the same page, which can increase loading times and therefore users' waiting. This frustration can raise your bounce rate.
Not to mention that this metric matters for SEO! The longer your pages take to display, the less likely you are to appear at the top of the results.
Poor tracking of your site's performance
Because of how infinite scroll works, inserting Google Analytics code won't give you much information. You only track visits to a single web page.
You will need to write your own analytics implementation to track newly loaded content: events, goals, sections visited, etc. That makes it more costly to develop, maintain, and test.
User disorientation
Some blogs and news sites use infinite scroll, with articles following one another endlessly. Each successive article creates a new URL in the address bar as the user scrolls down.
This can encourage passive users to read “one more article,” but it's a frustrating experience for most visitors.
Users expect a sense of progress when reading an article online and a sense of completion when they finish it. But infinite scroll disrupts that process, causing disorientation.
A violation of web accessibility rules
Infinite scroll can make navigation particularly difficult for users with disabilities. They rely on assistive technologies to reach footers, sidebars, and other relevant links — which is impossible with continuously loading content.
You are therefore violating the web content accessibility guidelines.
What are the alternatives to infinite scroll?
Fortunately, there are more effective alternatives to infinite scroll. And they do not have the same drawbacks. Here are four of them:
1. Pagination
Pagination is very often the "default" mode in many WordPress themes or other CMSs. In a simple and logical way, this navigation system allows access to a limited number of items per page and to navigate following the chronological order of posts.
Very frequently used for e-commerce or blogs, this system nevertheless has its limits. An American study conducted by the Baymard Institute highlighted that this loading mode could sometimes be discouragingThis is especially true for e-commerce. It is often perceived as slow. On top of that, in the case of a product type with many variants (for example dresses on a clothing retailer's site), the large number of pages does not encourage the visitor to continue browsing. You have probably experienced this yourself.
That said, pagination should not be dismissed. It can perfectly be suitable for blogs or online magazines. This type of scrolling allows the visitor to quickly get a sense of the kinds of content on the site and to go back if an article caught their attention, for example.
2. Subcategories
This solution is perfect for e-commerce. The main problem with infinite scroll is the apparent content disorganization. But with subcategories, it becomes much easier to reorganize it.
The idea is as follows: within one article type, displayed with infinite scroll, offer subcategories that will allow presenting results in grids. If we take the example of our clothing e-commerce site, instead of seeing all dresses appear, you could choose "patterned", "long dress", "evening", etc.
This resolves a large part of the objections related to infinite scroll.
3. The "Load more" button
According to the Baymard Institute, the combination of this button and lazy loading would be the most effective in terms of user experience.
If you're not familiar with lazy loading, here's an explanation. It is a mode of loading your website's script that lets you determine which elements should be loaded as a priority. This notably allows images to appear much faster, giving heavier elements time to load afterwards. The lazy loading is an essential element to make your website even more high-performing in Google's eyes and improve your organic SEO.
The "Load more" button, or in French "charger plus", sits at the crossroads between pagination and infinite scroll. The idea is to display only a certain number of items for an e-commerce site or content for a webzine or blog, then offer to load more. But unlike pagination, when you click this button you stay on the same page, which is then enriched with new elements.
An excellent way to avoid wasting time loading a new page, reloading all the elements again, etc.
4. The modal slideshow
The modal slideshow consists of displaying an element from your webpage in front while deactivating all other page content. The user clicks the element to be taken to a slideshow of related items. This technique is found on sites like Flickr, as well as on hotel, restaurant, or travel agency websites.
To return to the main content, the user must take an action or close the window. This alternative is useful for drawing users' attention to an important action or piece of information on your website.
The modal slideshow is not suitable for sites with a lot of content. Conversely, this alternative to infinite scroll is aimed more at businesses or freelancers who want to showcase high-quality visuals via portfolios.
It serves to boost user engagement without necessarily turning them into customers.
Conclusion
You now know how to fix this and improve your visitors' user experience. Your turn! If you need help, post a project for free on Codeur.com to find the ideal freelancer.
