The mobile intrusive interstitials penalty
In 2017, Google started rolling out the mobile intrusive interstitials penalty.
In August 2016, Google announced plans to lower the rankings of pages “where content is not easily accessible to a user on the transition from the mobile search results” – and that crackdown would begin on Jan. 10, 2017.
Why did Google do this? They believed this type of ad was “problematic” on mobile devices with smaller screens.
Google explained which types of interstitials were going to be problematic, including:
- Showing a popup that covers the main content, either immediately after the user navigates to a page from the search results or while they are looking through the page.
- Displaying a standalone interstitial that the user has to dismiss before accessing the main content.
- Using a layout where the above-the-fold portion of the page appears similar to a standalone interstitial, but the original content has been inlined underneath the fold.
Read all about it in: Google confirms rolling out the mobile intrusive interstitials penalty yesterday.
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From Search Marketing Expo (SMX)
Past contributions from Search Engine Land’s Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)
These columns are a snapshot in time and have not been updated since publishing, unless noted. Opinions expressed in these articles are those of the author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.
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