Google is committed to improving the mobile search experience for their users. They have worked hard to encourage all websites to be optimised for mobile and now they’re about to introduce a brand new penalty that will affect more mobile web pages. The penalty will be in play from January 10, 2017 and will affect websites that continue to use interstitials that are considered to be intrusive.

The type of interstitials you’ll want to remove to avoid being pushed down in the rankings include:

• Popups that cover the content either as soon as the user reaches the page or when they are reading or scrolling the content on the page
• A standalone interstitial that requires the user to close it down in order to see the main content
• When the main content is inlined beneath the fold and above the fold appears to be a standalone interstitial

You have a few months to remove these types of interstitials if you want to avoid being pushed down the search engine results pages.  You will still be allowed to use some interstitials providing you use them responsibly, these are as follows:

• Banners that only use a suitable amount of space on the screen and that can be dismissed easily by the user
• Interstitials that are to do with any legal obligations, such as cookies and age verification
• Login prompts for content that isn’t indexed publically

Google have previously launched the app install interstitial penalty back in November, 2015. This penalty will be replaced by the new one once it rolls out in January, 2017.

Contact us if you require assistance improving your website for mobile search. We have different SEO services available depending on your needs. Call 01905 27007 today.