Do you want to add infinite scroll to your WordPress blog?
Infinite scroll automatically loads your next page content to save your visitors from having to click on pagination links or the load more button at the bottom of the page.
In this article, we will show you how to easily add infinite scroll on your WordPress blog, step by step.
What is Infinite Scroll?
Infinite scroll is a web design trend which uses AJAX page load technology to automatically load your next page content and display it at the end of current page.
Infinite scrolling makes it easier to browse more content by simply scrolling down. It loads content continuously and infinitely as users keep scrolling.
The best examples of infinite scroll design are the popular social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and more.
Why Add Infinite Scroll to Your WordPress Site?
When visitors to your WordPress blog scroll through your content, they will come to a set of links at the bottom of the page that allow them to see newer or older content.
Infinite scroll offers a smoother browsing experience.
If you use Facebook or Twitter, then you know how content loads endlessly on your social media timeline. It’s perfect for content that’s presented in a timeline or feed, as well as mobile and touch devices.
But some websites will be easier to navigate without infinite scroll, and if you want to display a footer on your site, then you won’t be able to use infinite scroll.
It can also slow down or crash smaller blogs. We recommend that you use managed WordPress hosting if you’re looking to try infinite scrolling.
With that being said, let’s have a look at how to add infinite scroll to your WordPress site. Method 1 will work best for most users, but if that plugin doesn’t work with your theme, then you should use one of the other methods.
- Method 1: Adding Infinite Scroll with Catch Infinite Scroll
- Method 2: Adding Infinite Scroll with YITH Infinite Scrolling
- Method 3: Adding Infinite Scroll with Ajax Load More
Method 1: Adding Infinite Scroll with Catch Infinite Scroll
The first thing you need to do is install and activate the Catch Infinite Scroll plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, you’ll see a new menu item labeled ‘Catch Infinite Scroll’ in your WordPress admin panel. You need to click on it to configure the plugin settings.
To start with, you need to choose a trigger option for loading articles. You should select the ‘Scroll’ option to trigger autoload with scrolling.
If you choose the ‘Click’ option, then infinite scroll will not be enabled and a ‘Load More’ button will be displayed instead.
Next, you can see the navigation selector, next selector, content selector, and item selector. You don’t need to change anything on these options because default options work quite well.
After that, there is an ‘Image’ option where you can add a content loader icon. By default, it has a loader GIF image. If you have a better picture, then you can change it.
Once you’ve finished configuring the settings, you should click on the Save Changes button.
That’s it! The infinite scrolling is now active. You can visit your blog and see the infinite scrolling in action.
Method 2: Adding Infinite Scroll with YITH Infinite Scrolling
YITH Infinite Scrolling is a simple alternative with minimal options. You just need to install and activate the plugin to enable infinite scrolling.
Once activated, you can navigate to YITH » Infinite Scrolling to configure the plugin, but the default settings work fine.
Anyone, including beginners, can easily set up infinite scrolling using this plugin. However, it doesn’t have a ‘Load More’ button option, which is included in the plugins used for Methods 1 and 3.
Method 3: Adding Infinite Scroll with Ajax Load More
Ajax Load More has a steeper learning curve for beginners. It has an advanced interface with many options, including a repeater template, shortcode builder, and WordPress queries.
The plugin also offers more customization settings, including many page loading icon styles and button styles. But it will require some coding skills to set up.
For a detailed guide, you can see our tutorial on creating a load more posts button in WordPress using the Ajax Load More plugin.
We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to add infinite scroll to your WordPress site. You may also want to learn how to increase your blog traffic, or check out our list of 24 tips to speed up your WordPress site.
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Anant says
Can i use Catch Infinite Scroll in pages as well ?
WPBeginner Support says
Unless we hear otherwise, the plugin does have an option for loading on pages.
Admin
Ben says
Hi, When using infinite scroll and the user clicks on a post the back button takes them to the top of the list rather than where they were before.
Is there a fix for this?
WPBeginner Support says
Not at this time, you would want to reach out to the plugin’s support for the possibility to add that feature in the future.
Admin
Abuel says
Hello!
I want to ask on how can i activate infinite scrolling on my blog page that i created using elementor?
Thank you.
WPBeginner Support says
You would want to reach out to elementor’s support for that question as elementor’s settings would be the ones your site follows.
Admin
Steve says
This article is helpful. It’s unclear though how to add content to the scroll. I’d appreciate an explanation.
WPBeginner Support says
The scroll would show the next few posts on your site automatically
Admin
Astro says
How can I apply infinity scrolling to posts on a particular category only?
WPBeginner Support says
You would want to check with the support for the plugin you are using for if that is an option or if they have a recommended method for setting that up.
Admin
Max says
Hi, great post as usual! Is there also a solution to implement a sorting by a category or a tag that the user can choose like in the Neil Patel’s blog listing page?! Thank you in advance.
WPBeginner Support says
For the ability to filter your posts by category, you would want to take a look at our guide here: https://www.wpbeginner.com/plugins/how-to-let-users-filter-posts-and-pages-in-wordpress/
Admin
Fman says
Hi there wpbeginner!
I would like to add infinite scroll to related products on my woocommerce site, how do we do that ?
WPBeginner Support says
You would want to reach out to the plugin’s support for how to set that up.
Admin
Lakmal says
Hi
Thank you for your article and i need to know is it can be use for woocommerce sites?
Regards
Lakmal
WPBeginner Support says
Unless we hear otherwise, it should work for a WooCommerce site
Admin
Bruce Pang says
Good article. It’s very useful for a fresh man like me. Thank you very much.
WPBeginner Support says
Thank you, glad our article could be helpful
Admin