Sites with Intrusive Ads to appear lower in Search Results

Ink

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Thread author
Verified
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Jan 8, 2011
22,361
Google Webmaster Blog: Helping users find the content they’re looking for

Although the majority of pages now have text and content on the page that is readable without zooming, we’ve recently seen many examples where these pages show intrusive interstitial to users. While the underlying content is present on the page and available to be indexed by Google, content may be visually obscured by an interstitial. This can frustrate users because they are unable to easily access the content that they were expecting when they tapped on the search result.

Pages that show intrusive interstitial provide a poorer experience to users than other pages where content is immediately accessible. This can be problematic on mobile devices where screens are often smaller. To improve the mobile search experience, after January 10, 2017, pages where content is not easily accessible to a user on the transition from the mobile search results may not rank as highly.

Here are some examples of techniques that make content less accessible to a user:
  • 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.
By contrast, here are some examples of techniques that, used responsibly, would not be affected by the new signal:
  • 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.
Original Source: Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Helping users easily access content on mobile (with Pictures).

Discovered through Android Police: [Update: Started on January 10] Google will start ranking pages with intrusive ads lower on search results
 

_CyberGhosT_

Level 53
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Honorary Member
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Well-known
Aug 2, 2015
4,286
I voted "Yes"
but let me clarify, they truly deserve lower ratings for serving up ads that are so intrusive that
they effect the users experience during a visit. Bad Ad formats are a security risk as well.
So they deserve the lower rating, but not for having ads, for having intrusive & dangerously
formatted ads and ad delivery systems. ;)
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Exterminator

Community Manager
Verified
Staff Member
Well-known
Oct 23, 2012
12,527
I voted yes also and totally agree with @_CyberGhosT_
Intrusive ads,especially on a mobile device,that make content less accessible than other sites that don't use them should be given a lower rating.
 

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