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Google Will Soon Start Punishing Mobile Sites that Use Annoying App Install Ads

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Re: Google Will Soon Start Punishing Mobile Sites that Use Annoying App Install Ads

#121

Post by irl_zebra »

redml wrote: post #100
volaski wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm more annoyed with these sites than the app install sites. "Install our app" is annoying but still trying their best to send us where we will have better have better experience (at least that's what they think). These "subscribe to our newsletter" sites do it for their own good and couldn't care less about visitors. They do it so they can spam them with their emails

Those are particularly annoying when im halfway through reading and they popup out of nowhere. I'm surprised it's an effective tactic at all to annoy readers (it has to be effective if they're doing it).

To play the devil's advocate, if it's coming at all, I'd rather it be halfway through the article than right as I load the page. Presumably if I've read half an article, I'm at least partially interested in what's on their site. Nautilius seems to do an embedded newsletter ad halfway through the article, no pop up, just enter your email if you're interested or keep reading. Very happy about this (though I still didn't subscribe).

Re: Google Will Soon Start Punishing Mobile Sites that Use Annoying App Install Ads

#122

Post by saidajigumi »

alkonaut wrote: post #114
saidajigumi wrote: post #41

Ugh, maybe this will finally push forums to burn those infernal Tapatalk interstitials. Forum owners: I'm looking for one piece of information from a web search, not a whole dumb app that will completely ignore my search goals.

Tapatalk splash is a sure sign of a phpBB forum, meaning I won't find what I'm looking for anyway. Close tab. I can't believe those forums don't just migrate to Discourse.

> a phpBB forum, meaning I won't find what I'm looking for anyway.

I'll have to disagree on this point. There are a lot of phpBB forums out there, and their quality and content varies widely as the Internet itself. Many of them, esp. some of the long-established ones, are invaluable sources for all sorts of arcana. Wikipedia doesn't even begin to touch the kinds of obscure practical knowledge embedded in the "dark web" of phpBB forums. There are a lot of Google searches for which a single post by some domain expert is the top result, many of which in old, old forum software of some sort, usually phpBB.

FWIW, I've never once run into a Discourse forum in the wild, i.e. via a web search, site link, etc.

Re: Google Will Soon Start Punishing Mobile Sites that Use Annoying App Install Ads

#123

Post by matchu »

sharkweek wrote: post #120

As a user, I'm pro-getting rid of interstitial ads on mobile. But just for dissenting opinion, this definitely feels monopolistic. "Stay on the native web so we can sell more ads!" Maybe it's mutually beneficial for Google and its search users, but this is certainly the argument that's going to come from folks who are about to lose a ton of app downloads. http://searchengineland.com/google-goes-app-interstitial-pro..…

If anyone tries to make that argument, the counter will be simple: "We want developers to make native apps! That's why we're making App Indexing a thing."

There's definitely some advantage to keeping people on the web, since App Indexing requires buy-in from content producers, but, if browsers start truly losing to native apps, Google are prepared.

https://developers.google.com/app-indexing/

Re: Google Will Soon Start Punishing Mobile Sites that Use Annoying App Install Ads

#124

Post by look_lookatme »

maybe they should punish their fucking AdX buyers that redirect people to the app stores for a change

note: i work for a publisher and when an app store redirect comes through AdX or AppNexus and someone makes a complaint it is one of the worst, most helpless feelings. this is why people use adblock and there is nothing we can do because the networks are, still, an important part of our entire revenue stream

Re: Google Will Soon Start Punishing Mobile Sites that Use Annoying App Install Ads

#125

Post by pdkl95 »

jasonlotito wrote: post #16
nilved wrote: post #5

What about sites that prompt you to enable push notifications?

That is a feature of the browser, and is on the browser to make it not annoying. While it's fair to say you might find it annoying and might not want to see it, others do find it valuable. If a browser feature is annoying you, the correct approach would be to disable that feature in the browser. If the browser doesn't allow you to do this, than it's the browser's implementation that is at fault. This all assumes the…

The correct answer is that features like push notifications should be opt-in in the browser. Too many of these features exploit the general ignorance of users.

> If a browser feature is annoying you, the correct approach would be to disable that feature in the browser.

Yet when some of us shut off Javascript - a feature that is often annoying, enables many kinds of tracking, and occasionally creates serious security problems - half of HN freaks out. Given that Javascript is necessary for many types of surveillance-as-a-business-model, hostility to the idea of disabling javascript is expected.

Push notifications are still a newer feature, but once that feature becomes entrenched enough that some people's profit depends on the feature, disabling push notifications in the client will be regarded with similar hostility.

Re: Google Will Soon Start Punishing Mobile Sites that Use Annoying App Install Ads

#126

Post by jlarocco »

jacquesm wrote: post #37

Does that mean they'll block youtube? Try playing a video on a phone that does not have the youtube app installed, it's just about impossible to get it right, it's a roulette that's rigged with more than half the links going to the youtube app page on google play. Highly annoying since there is no reason why the youtube page of some video should even have that app installation link at all.

gmail.com does the same thing, and it's super annoying.

Re: Google Will Soon Start Punishing Mobile Sites that Use Annoying App Install Ads

#127

Post by n0us »

dragonwriter wrote: post #117
n0us wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure why you're getting downvoted. I have wondered this myself. Between punishing sites that are not mobile responsive and this move I wonder if their motivations are partly fueled by the fear that mobile users are spending more times within native apps and not enough time on the web. As you can read here their response to the EU antitrust lawsuit http://techcrunch.com/2015/04/14/internal-google-memo-respon... go…

> Between punishing sites that are not mobile responsive and this move I wonder if their motivations are partly fueled by the fear that mobile users are spending more times within native apps and not enough time on the web. I think its more driven by the fact that more of Google search traffic comes from mobile, so its more critical that the results provide a good experience on mobile.

True, again if users are getting good results through google search they they are less likely to jump directly into the app, bypassing google advertising. Content producers in turn want to take advantage of google search as a way of directing users to their content so they optimize their mobile sites and don't focus solely on apps. The result is a feedback loop that is good for both Google and the user.

Re: Google Will Soon Start Punishing Mobile Sites that Use Annoying App Install Ads

#129

Post by sgustard »

justincormack wrote: post #10

Does this apply to "please subscribe to our stupid newsletter" that obscures many sites now?

Per http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2015/09/mobile-fr...

"After November 1, mobile web pages that show an app install interstitial that hides a significant amount of content on the transition from the search result page will no longer be considered mobile-friendly. This does not affect other types of interstitials."

This implies the answer is No, since that's another type of interstitial (not an app install) -- but is one that blocks most of the page content. It's curious that they're analyzing the nature of the popup closely enough to determine that.

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