Google to penalise mobile sites with intrusive ads

In a bid to improve user experience on mobile devices, technology giant Google has announced that the ranking of the websites carrying advertisements pop-ups will be drastically altered from 2017.

The loading time for mobile web pages with pop-ups ads will be automatically slowed by Google, which will then lower their ranking on Google's algorithm.

"To improve the mobile search experience, after January 10, 2017, pages where content is not readily accessible to a user on the transition from the mobile search results may not rank as highly," said a Google blog post.

Google is specifically targeting websites in which the content is indexed and rated highly on Google search, but blocks users from viewing the content thanks to an ad once users reach the page through a Google search. 

Other no-nos include putting the content in the second-fold or embedding the content between ads that look very similar to the searched for content. 

Along with these diktats, Google has helpfully provided a 'suggestion' to websites as well - Stop showing pop-up ads that cover the primary content "either immediately after the user navigates to a page from the search results, or while they are looking through the page."