Mobile browsing can feel like a website is testing your sanity. You immediately get pop-up ads, “we use cookies” warnings, and pop-ups asking permission to send more pop-ups and notifications. Argh!
When you finally figure out how to close all those layers of windows, you’ve lost interest in whatever content you were originally looking for.
Instead of an enjoyable information-gathering session, all those pop-ups made your mobile browsing stressful.
The good news is, intrusive pop-ups are enough to get a website owner penalized.
That’s because Google feels a mobile user’s pain.
Google Issues Penalties to Intrusive Pop-Up Abusers
Since pop-ups are disruptive for users on smaller mobile screens, Google wants web developers to be smarter about how they use pop-ups.
Just to be clear, Google doesn’t hate all pop-ups. It hates intrusive pop-ups.
The image of intrusive designs shown below is provided by Google.
Source: Google
As a result, Google has begun issuing penalties to mobile websites that use three kinds of pop-ups:
- Pop-ups on the first page of a mobile user’s visit.
- Pop-ups that hide the majority of the web page behind it.
- Interstitials, or an overlay pop-up that covers the entire screen, usually when you first visit a website.
Non-Intrusive Pops are OK
If your pops are non-intrusive, it’s OK to show them on your website. Non-intrusive pop-ups won’t damage your search engine rankings.
You need to play by Google’s rules so it might be time to revisit your pop-up strategy.
Make sure your website provides a better user experience for your mobile visitors.
