Google Reportedly Discontinuing Infinite Scrolling in Search Results on Desktop and Mobile

Google has decided to discontinue its continuous scroll feature in search results, just two years after its introduction. The tech giant will soon stop offering infinite scrolling on both mobile and desktop platforms, opting for a page-by-page lookup format instead.

Google first introduced continuous search results on mobile in 2021, followed by the desktop platform a year later. However, the feature is now being rolled back, with Google prioritizing a search-by-page-number format.

Discontinuation of Continuous Scroll

A Google spokesperson reportedly stated that the discontinuation of the feature will begin today for desktop platforms, while it will be rolled back on mobile devices "in the coming months".

Desktop users will now see page numbers followed by a Next option below the Goooooooooogle logo. On mobile devices, a 'More Results' option is speculated to be introduced, which will load the next search results page. Users would need to turn to the next page after every 10 search results or so.

Google explained that automatically fetching search results did not result in higher satisfaction with the search engine. The company stated that this change would allow them to serve search results faster on more searches, instead of automatically loading results that users haven't explicitly requested.

Google's AI Challenges

In recent weeks, Google Search has faced issues due to its artificial intelligence (AI) features. The platform introduced several AI features promising quicker and better search results; however, one of these features, AI Overviews, began displaying false and bizarre information based on dubious search results.

Despite Google claiming that AI Overviews only showed information "backed up by top web results", the search tool's error was attributed to difficulties in filtering out satirical and nonsensical content. The feature has since been significantly scaled down and is now showing up for just 15 percent of search queries.

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