What are the best practices for implementing pagination on a website for optimal SEO performance?

Implementing pagination correctly is important for ensuring both search engines and users can access and navigate your paginated content efficiently. Here are some key best practices I'd recommend:

Use the rel="prev/next" markup to explicitly indicate the sequential paginated URLs to Google. This allows it to understand the proper order and prioritize crawling each component.

You'll also want to be careful with your pagination levels. Try to keep it relatively shallow, like 5-10 levels maximum. The deeper you go, the more risk of potential rendering issues or link dilution across excessive pagination levels.

Using search-engine-friendly URLs with the actual page numbers (example.com/page/2) is better than query string parameters which can sometimes cause crawling/indexing issues.

Implement self-referential canonical tags on each paginated page component too. This reinforces which URL represents that piece of the pagination series.

Providing a "View All" option to render the full set of results on a single page can be great for accessibility and crawlability as well.

From an internal linking perspective, be sure to link to the most important pagination pages from the root using descriptive anchor text. This helps search engines understand priority and context.

Consistent use of heading tags in a proper sequential outline is also wise for maintaining content hierarchy across your paginated components.

If using infinite scroll, just be cautious about potential rendering challenges for search engines and make sure your most critical content doesn't get orphaned on inaccessible scroll levels.

And of course, take advantage of the Inspection Tool in Google Search Console to debug any rendering or indexing issues with your paginated content.

The overall objective is striking that balance between an optimal user experience while adhering to technical standards that facilitate full crawl and indexation of your pagination.