PREPARE YOUR WEBSITE FOR THE LATEST GOOGLE UPDATE

Google's last update that focused on mobile usability of a website has come and gone and is affectionately known as 'mobilgeddon' within the industry. We all learnt our lessons and prepared our clients websites to tackle the huge Google shakeup relating to 'mobilegeddon'

However it seems that the search giants , Google, are at it again with another update to improve end user experiences when using a mobile device. This time around they are focusing on ' intrusive pop ups'.

What are pop ups and why are they used?

Pop up are annoying ads or sign up forms that take over the screen when you are visiting a website. You have to close the pop up down to continue viewing the website.

Annoying as they are they are an effective tool to increase brand exposure or capture potential client data. At Quay Websites many of our clients have pop ups installed on their websites and they are really affective.

What's Googles plan?

Google wants to de rank websites that use annoying and intrusive popups and thus boost a more mobile friendly experience to their users. This process starts in January 2017.

It is very rare that Google lets people know what they are about to do, so when they do, we know its going to seriously affect the SEO - search engine optimisation - of websites.

In the post on the Official Google Webmaster Central blog, Google Product Manager Doantam Phan provided examples of the types of pop-ups that Google considers to be disruptive to the user experience:

“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 (pop up) 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.”

What do I do?!

If you are using pop up's its time to say goodbye if you want to maintain or improve a healthy rank on Google.

However this still leaves us with the issue that Pop up's do actually work. So we need to start thinking outside of the box and create new ways that are mobile friendly. 

Quay Websites can help you! Contact us today to find out about our amazing marketing plans that are 100% user friendly!