Google knows that people rarely go past the first page.  When doing a search, if they do not find what they are looking for in the first page of search results, people are more likely to review the results again or change their search than go to page 2.

This creates as many problems for Google as it does for website owners.  Google has more ad inventory that they would like to display to searchers.  They also have richer content that they are reluctant to display because it would result in fewer page 1 listings.  Google’s solution: infinite scroll.

Infinite scroll removes the pagination for search results and replaces it with a simple “show more results”  button at the bottom.  This is similar to how your Facebook wall currently functions.

This is not science fiction, Google has begun live testing this function.  Here is an example captured by Waebo:

What does infinite scroll mean for hoteliers? Simply: More!

More visibility for those properties not on page 1.  In major markets this could be a significant difference for a lot of hotels.

More opportunities to stand out as Google uses this real estate to expand Universal Search and Rich Snippets.

Google has confirmed that they are working on the infinite scroll functionality, but will not comment on a timeline for its introduction.  So, for now, we are left to wait and anticipate.

To learn more about Infinite Scroll and how it could effect search results check out GSQI’s article at:
http://www.hmtweb.com/imd/?p=1132