Google is Cracking Down on Pop-ups

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On January 10, 2017 Google will be making a change to the way it ranks mobile versions of your website.  It will be downgrading sites which have “intrusive interstitials”.  These include pop-ups that cover content and slide up/down content that pushes the main page content below the fold.

Alerts at the top of the site and the “SmartBanner” option for app downloads will be okay. These do not push content below the fold or otherwise interfere with access to the content.

Here’s more information: https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2016/08/helping-users-easily-access-content-on.html

What can you do?  Put the content from your pop-up inline.

• Set it in slide up/down area at the top which doesn’t block the site or fill all the above-the-fold area. CUSG's Alerts Module is ideal for this.
• Put the content and call to action in a banner ad.
• Put the content in your content or news area and highlight it with color, background color or images.

In general, when designing your website, think like a user.  Google wants its search algorithm to mimic a real human being's behavior. If your marketing strategy is annoying to the user, it's going to cause your website to be downgraded by Google.

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