# Prefetch the Next Page of Archives and Paginated Posts

> Adds a prefetch hint for the next page of blog archives, category pages and multi-page posts, so it opens almost instantly when visitors click "Next".

- Type: PHP
- Runs: Frontend cl
- Category: [Performance](https://wpide.com/library/category/performance/)
- Tags: prefetch, pagination, archives
- Author: WPIDE Team
- Installs: 0
- Updated: 2026-10-28
- Page: https://wpide.com/library/perf-prefetch-next-page/

## Code

```php
add_action( 'wp_head', function () {
    global $wp_query, $page, $numpages;

    $next = '';

    if ( ( is_home() || is_archive() || is_search() ) && get_query_var( 'paged', 1 ) < (int) $wp_query->max_num_pages ) {
        $next = get_next_posts_page_link();
    } elseif ( is_singular() && $numpages > 1 && $page < $numpages ) {
        $next = _wp_link_page( $page + 1 );
        $next = preg_match( '#href="([^"]+)"#', $next, $m ) ? $m[1] : '';
    }

    if ( $next ) {
        printf( "<script>if(!(navigator.connection&&navigator.connection.saveData)){var l=document.createElement('link');l.rel='prefetch';l.href=%s;document.head.appendChild(l);}</script>\n", wp_json_encode( esc_url_raw( $next ) ) );
    }
}, 20 );
```

## Notes

Prefetching uses a little extra bandwidth for visitors who never click; it is skipped for visitors with data saver turned on.

## How to use it

Install the free WPIDE plugin (https://wordpress.org/plugins/wpide/), find "Prefetch the Next Page of Archives and Paginated Posts" in its snippet library and add it in one click; or create a new PHP snippet in WPIDE (or any code snippets plugin) and paste the code above. More snippets: https://wpide.com/library/