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It was only a matter of time. The Overlords at Google, I mean the Internet Police. will now start penalizing websites with "intrusive interstitials". RIP SumoMe Welcome Mat. We'll hardly missing you.
They are claiming this penalty will be only for mobile, and will get enforced on January 10th, 2017. My question is - will Forbes.com finally get penalized?
Google said "pages where content is not easily accessible to a user on the transition from the mobile search results may not rank as highly."
Google explained which types of interstitial are going to be problematic, including:
[..]
Google listed three types of interstitials that “would not be affected by the new signal” if “used responsibly.” Those types are:
Source: Google warns it will crack down on “intrusive interstitials” in January
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Google is also removing the "App install Interstitial Penalty" when this rolls out since it would be a duplicate penalty.
No doubt that most implementations of the Welcome Mat are just horrible, annoying, and spammy. The ones that ask for your email immediately when you visit the website BEFORE you've even read the content are the worst. The best implementations are after 1 or 2 pages have been clicked and they actually give something away. As always Marketers ruin everything.
On one side I love this penalty cause it's going to let me actually read the freaking content - the problem is this sets a dangerous precedent where Google is essentially now telling webmasters how to design their websites. If I have a bad website experience I just don't come back to the website or dread going to the site like Forbes.com. But now, we are getting design penalties, and the full on erosion of our freedoms that come along with it. It's also a bit interesting that as they remove the maximum amount of ADs you can have for Adsense - essentially letting websites with 1000 ADs create even worse user experiences for internet users - they are rolling out penalties for user experiences.
That doesn't make sense. It seems as if when the money goes into Google's pockets the user experience can suffer, but since Google doesn't make money off the SumoMe Welcome Mats - they are now worried about user experience. Kettle meet Pot.
An easy work around would be just to disable the Interstitial on Google search visitors and leave it on for everyone else. But these small erosion of your freedoms are the reason website owners should be doing traffic leaks and making sure they've got multiple sources of traffic coming into their website instead of just relying on a single source, otherwise when Google says "jump", you'll be quick to ask "How high?"
They are claiming this penalty will be only for mobile, and will get enforced on January 10th, 2017. My question is - will Forbes.com finally get penalized?
Google said "pages where content is not easily accessible to a user on the transition from the mobile search results may not rank as highly."
Google explained which types of interstitial are 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.
[..]
Google listed three types of interstitials that “would not be affected by the new signal” if “used responsibly.” Those types are:
- Interstitials that appear to be in response to a legal obligation, such as for cookie usage or for age verification.
- Login dialogs on sites where content is not publicly indexable. For example, this would include private content such as email or unindexable content that is behind a paywall.
- Banners that use a reasonable amount of screen space and are easily dismissible. For example, the app install banners provided by Safari and Chrome are examples of banners that use a reasonable amount of screen space.
Source: Google warns it will crack down on “intrusive interstitials” in January
--
Google is also removing the "App install Interstitial Penalty" when this rolls out since it would be a duplicate penalty.
No doubt that most implementations of the Welcome Mat are just horrible, annoying, and spammy. The ones that ask for your email immediately when you visit the website BEFORE you've even read the content are the worst. The best implementations are after 1 or 2 pages have been clicked and they actually give something away. As always Marketers ruin everything.
On one side I love this penalty cause it's going to let me actually read the freaking content - the problem is this sets a dangerous precedent where Google is essentially now telling webmasters how to design their websites. If I have a bad website experience I just don't come back to the website or dread going to the site like Forbes.com. But now, we are getting design penalties, and the full on erosion of our freedoms that come along with it. It's also a bit interesting that as they remove the maximum amount of ADs you can have for Adsense - essentially letting websites with 1000 ADs create even worse user experiences for internet users - they are rolling out penalties for user experiences.
That doesn't make sense. It seems as if when the money goes into Google's pockets the user experience can suffer, but since Google doesn't make money off the SumoMe Welcome Mats - they are now worried about user experience. Kettle meet Pot.
An easy work around would be just to disable the Interstitial on Google search visitors and leave it on for everyone else. But these small erosion of your freedoms are the reason website owners should be doing traffic leaks and making sure they've got multiple sources of traffic coming into their website instead of just relying on a single source, otherwise when Google says "jump", you'll be quick to ask "How high?"