What is pagination?
Pagination is how websites split large amounts of content across multiple pages instead of loading everything at once. You see it everywhere: search results showing "1, 2, 3, Next" at the bottom, product listings spread across dozens of pages, or social media feeds that keep loading as you scroll.
When you're scraping data, pagination becomes a critical challenge. That product catalog you want to analyze? It's not just 20 items on one page. It's 2,000 items spread across 100 pages. If your scraper only grabs page one, you're missing 98% of the data.
Why websites use pagination
Websites paginate content for practical reasons. Loading 10,000 products on a single page would crash your browser and take forever to load. By splitting content into smaller chunks, websites load faster, use less memory, and create a better user experience.
For you as a scraper, this means you need a strategy to navigate through all those pages and collect complete datasets.
Types of pagination you'll encounter
URL-based pagination
This is the simplest type. Each page has a unique URL with a parameter that changes. You'll see patterns like example.com?page=2 or example.com?offset=20. About 65% of e-commerce sites use this approach.
The advantage? You can scrape these pages by simply changing the URL parameter in a loop. No complex JavaScript handling needed. You can even scrape multiple pages simultaneously since each has its own direct link.
Infinite scroll
Some websites load more content automatically as you scroll down. Think of social media feeds or modern news sites. There are no page numbers, just endless content that appears as you reach the bottom.
Scraping infinite scroll requires tools that can simulate scrolling behavior. You need to trigger the loading mechanism, wait for new content to appear, then repeat until you've captured everything.
Load more buttons
Similar to infinite scroll, but users must click a button to load additional content. Each click typically triggers a background request that fetches the next batch of items without changing the visible URL.
Your scraper needs to identify these buttons, click them programmatically, and wait for new content to load before continuing.
API-based pagination
Many modern websites load data through APIs rather than rendering everything in HTML. API pagination uses parameters like limit and offset to control which batch of results you get back.
If you can access the API directly, this is often the cleanest way to handle pagination. You make structured requests and receive structured data back.
How to scrape paginated content
For URL-based pagination
Start by loading the first page and examining the pagination structure. Look for the total number of pages or results. Then create a loop that iterates through each page, modifying the URL parameter as you go.
The basic approach: fetch page one, extract the data, move to page two, repeat until you reach the last page. Because each page has a unique URL, you can also scrape multiple pages at once using asynchronous requests, which dramatically speeds up data collection.
For dynamic content
Infinite scroll and load more buttons require browser automation tools like Selenium or Playwright. These tools can execute JavaScript, scroll the page, click buttons, and wait for content to load.
You'll need to simulate user behavior: scroll to the bottom, wait a few seconds for content to appear, scroll again. Or find the load more button, click it, wait for the loading indicator to disappear, then click again.
For API pagination
If you identify that a website loads data through an API, inspect the network requests in your browser's developer tools. You'll see the API endpoint and the parameters it accepts.
Then you can make direct requests to that API, incrementing the offset or page parameter with each call. This approach is typically faster and more reliable than scraping HTML.
Common challenges with pagination
Limited page access
Some websites cap how many pages you can access. You might see results 1-500, but the site won't let you view page 51 and beyond. This is often a backend limitation rather than just hidden navigation.
To work around this, try using different sorting options or filters to split the dataset into smaller segments, each with its own pagination limit.
Rate limiting and blocking
Scraping dozens or hundreds of pages in rapid succession looks suspicious. Websites monitor for automated behavior and may block your IP or show CAPTCHAs.
Add delays between requests, rotate IP addresses, and vary your request patterns to appear more human-like.
Content changes between pages
Websites update their content constantly. An item on page three might move to page two while you're scraping, causing you to capture it twice or miss it entirely.
For critical projects, consider scraping faster using concurrent requests or taking a snapshot approach where you capture all pages as quickly as possible.
JavaScript-heavy pagination
About 95% of websites use JavaScript, and many implement pagination that won't work without it. Your simple HTTP requests will return empty pages or loading indicators.
This requires browser automation, which is slower and more resource-intensive than basic HTTP scraping.
Best practices for pagination scraping
First, always check the first page for pagination metadata. Many sites include the total number of results or pages in the HTML, which tells you exactly how many pages you need to scrape.
Match your tool to the pagination type. Don't use heavy browser automation for simple URL-based pagination. Save those resources for when you actually need JavaScript execution.
Implement smart rate limiting. Add random delays between requests, respect the website's robots.txt file, and back off if you encounter errors.
Use asynchronous scraping when possible. For URL-based pagination with 50 pages, scraping them one by one might take 5 minutes. Scraping 10 simultaneously could reduce that to 30 seconds.
Log everything. Track which pages you've scraped, how long each took, and any errors you encounter. This helps you resume interrupted scraping jobs and debug issues.
How Browse AI handles pagination
Pagination is one of the trickiest parts of web scraping, but Browse AI handles it automatically. You don't need to write loops, detect pagination types, or configure browser automation.
When you set up a scraper with Browse AI, it automatically detects pagination controls on the page, whether that's numbered links, next buttons, or load more functionality. The platform navigates through all pages and collects complete datasets without you writing a single line of code.
Browse AI handles the complexity behind the scenes: it manages rate limiting, deals with JavaScript rendering, and ensures you capture all available data across every page.
