Google clicks with different numbers of shown posts?

[Robert9]

There is an add-on that allows all pages of a thread to be packed into the page list; so I assume that normally only the first page is listed?

Is it relevant for Google whether we have a thread with 20 posts on one page or 400 posts spread across 20 pages?

If that doesn’t have a significant impact, I might consider always displaying only the first page, with a maximum of 20 posts.

And how does this compare to a thread with a longer article and a note to sign up for more posts, versus a thread with 20 posts?

On one hand, there's more content, but also a lot of clutter around it, right?

Are there any insights or experiences on this?

1. Thread with one long article, one post only plus hint to register/login
2. Thread with one page and max. 20 posts plus hint to register/login
3. Complete thread

Would there be significantly more clicks from Google if changed from 3 to 2 or 1?

 

[Old Nick]

Maybe.

 

[Paul B]

Do A B C testing.

Hope that Google doesn't change the algorithm whilst doing so

 

[cpvr]

You can test it out. If a thread is getting a lot of replies, I’d recommend setting it to show 20-30 replies per page if it’s receiving a high number of clicks.


However, it doesn’t really matter, as Google will index and rank the page accordingly. They’ll still update it with the latest content, especially if you have the sitemap enabled.

 

[briansol]

Long threads have pagination canonicals. Assuming google follows this, it will eventually be able to follow all pages.

eg:

<link rel="canonical" href="https://xenforo.com/community/threads/xf-2-4-general-discussion-feedback-complaints-random-off-topic-posts-etc.225303/page-2" />
<link rel="prev" href="/community/threads/xf-2-4-general-discussion-feedback-complaints-random-off-topic-posts-etc.225303/" />
<link rel="next" href="/community/threads/xf-2-4-general-discussion-feedback-complaints-random-off-topic-posts-etc.225303/page-3" />