Google to Penalize Websites with "Intrusive Interstitials"

August 23, 2016

After January 10, 2017, websites that have “intrusive interstitials” on mobile layouts, those websites may not rank as highly. Google argues that pages with these interstitials can frustrate users because they are no longer able to easily access the content they were expecting to see. In their article to webmasters, Google provided some examples of what “intrusive interstitials” are.

1. A popup that covers the main content either after a user visits the page, or while looking through the page.

2. Showing an interstitial that the web user has to close before getting to the main content.

3. Using a layout where the above-the-fold appears to be a standalone interstitial, but the content has been inlined underneath the fold.

Here are some visual examples of bad interstitials:

Google also highlighted what constitutes the proper use of an interstitial, and those are:

1. Interstitials for a legal obligation for cookies or age verification

2. Login dialogs fo private content behind a paywall

3. Banners that use a “reasonable amount” of screen space AND are dismissible. (like app install banners)

Here are some visual examples of good interstitials:

While the following is not considered an interstitial or happens on a mobile device, I believe it does the same thing and is even more annoying, but I doubt we’ll see a crack down on this 🙂

Images:

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