Strange URL slug for post pagination pages

Hi Jack,

This is expected behavior based on how the Query block works in this setup.

Since /news/ is a regular page (not an archive), the Query block runs its own custom query to fetch posts from your News category. Because of that, it can’t use the standard /page/2/ pagination format. That format is reserved for WordPress’s main query, and on a static page, the main query only represents the page itself.

The ?query-xxxx-page=2 parameter is how the plugin handles pagination for custom queries. It also allows multiple Query blocks on the same page to paginate independently without conflicts.

So in this case, everything is working as intended and isn’t a bug.

If having clean /page/2/ URLs is important, the alternative would be to use a proper archive page for your News category (for example /category/news/) and set the Query block to inherit the query from the URL. That way, WordPress’s main query handles pagination natively.

You’re welcome, Jack. Glad to hear that!