Back to top buttons: Crawl Audit check 134

Short answer: on a very long page, a back-to-top button saves a lot of scrolling, especially on phones. On a short page it's clutter. Check 134 is informational and always passes: it notes whether the page has one.

What Crawl Audit checks

• Pass: the HTML mentions back-to-top or scroll-top.
• Pass: none, with a note that it's optional on long pages.

What the research says

Nielsen Norman Group's guidelines for back-to-top buttons (2017):

• "Use a Back to Top button for pages that are longer than 4 screens."
• "Place a persistent Back to Top button in the lower right side of the page."
• "Label the button Back to Top."
• "Keep the button small so it doesn't cover important page elements."

Building one that works for everyone

• Use a real link to the top of the page (<a href="#top">) or a button, so keyboards can use it.
• Give it a text label, not just an arrow.
• Make sure it doesn't cover a cookie banner, chat bubble or sticky bar on mobile (check 135).

Sources

• Nielsen Norman Group, Back-to-top button design guidelines (2017), checked 6 October 2026.