In a previous post we shared news that Google will start penalising websites that use popups on mobile. This came into effect January 10th 2017.
Google tell us the reason this is important:
“To improve the mobile search experience, after January 10th, 2017, pages where content is not easily accessible to a user on the transition from the mobile search results may not rank as highly”.
As you may or may not know, Google uses hundreds of signals for its search rankings to show where websites will appear in the search engine results page (SERP).
So which mobile popups make content less accessible to a user?
- A popup that covers the main content on a website. This can be either immediately after the user reaches a page from the search results, or while they are browsing the page.
- Having a standalone interstitial, or advertisement, pop up before the user can read the content that has to be dismissed.
- Having a popup which appears in the above-the-fold section of the page, with the original content actually underneath.
Examples of intrusive mobile popups.
Techniques that would not be affected by the new signal
- A popup that appears as a legal obligation. For example, age verification.
- Login dialog popups on sites. For example, where private content is input such as an email or information behind a paywall.
- Banners that can be easily dismissed using a small amount of screen space. For example, app install banners provided by Safari and Chrome.
Examples of mobile popups not affected include popups appearing as a legal obligation (such as cookie usage), login dialogs and small banners that can be easily dismissed.
Mobile searches can be over 50% of website traffic so it is imperative this isn’t taken lightly.
Contact Punch Buggy to fix this now. You can call us on 02 8911 3849 or email us at info@punchbuggy.com.au.