Google to punish websites that use pop-up adverts

Good news for those that don’t like intrusive web adverts. Google will start penalising websites that display pop-up adverts or banners that cover the main content of a webpage for mobile.

Google said via their blog this week that websites that employ this extremely intrusive advertising technique may feel the pinch in their web rankings.

The problem with pop-ups on mobile webpages is that they tend to cover the entire screen, and closing them via the X in the top right can be a rather tricky affair given the small amount of screen space the X occupies.

So websites that display an advert or pop-up when you load the page or when you’re scrolling down the page will be ranked lower by Google. Given that the search engine giant is usually one of the biggest sources of traffic for most websites out there, this will have plenty of website owners re-thinking some of their advertising strategies.

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Not all banners or pop-ups will be targeted. Sites that use pop-ups for information about cookies or age verification websites will escape Google’s wrath.

It’s ultimately good news for the advertising industry that companies are taking it upon themselves for penalising spammy ad networks and websites using overly intrusive advertising. Intrusive adverts that diminish user experience is one of the leading reasons why many have resorted to ad blockers, with sites that show adverts responsibly being caught in the middle.

However if the Internet will continue to punish sites that employ intrusive adverts then maybe, just maybe, more and more site owners will stop using poor ad networks and start displaying adverts more responsibly.

Now if Google can just punish websites that employ tons of auto-playing video adverts next (yes we’re looking at you Daily Mail and GiveMeSport) that would be just swell.