Google will punish sites that use annoying pop-up ads • Hacker News Board

Re: Google will punish sites that use annoying pop-up ads

#21

Post by jeromegv » Sun, Sep 10, 2017, 4:20 PM UTC

cpncrunch wrote: post #20

bcardarella wrote: post #2

This is from over a year ago

Google later confirmed that the update went live in Jan: http://searchengineland.com/google-confirms-rolling-mobile-i... I actually just added a full-screen video popup to a site a few days ago, and I made it so that it won't appear to googlebot. This wasn't for deceptive purposes, just because it wasn't relevant. I only show the video once to users, and it doesn't appear when they go back to the site...it's just a w…

Showing something different to GoogleBot than your users is against terms of service, all good until you get caught.

Re: Google will punish sites that use annoying pop-up ads

#22

Post by reconbot » Sun, Sep 10, 2017, 4:22 PM UTC

tangue wrote: post #5

bcardarella wrote: post #2

This is from over a year ago

And considering the state of the web I doubt there was any punishment at all.

I'm not so sure about that. They change up things a lot. Search is only part of the equation however, people can still buy an add to show you anything they like. So these practices aren't going away, they're just pushed into an arbitrage situation.

Re: Google will punish sites that use annoying pop-up ads

#23

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Sep 10, 2017, 4:27 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Google will punish sites that use annoying pop-up ads

#24

Post by ccleary00 » Sun, Sep 10, 2017, 4:29 PM UTC

If they can punish those Sumo Me fullscreen popups that ask for your email everytime you're 2 seconds into the page, that would be great.

Re: Google will punish sites that use annoying pop-up ads

#25

Post by newusertoday » Sun, Sep 10, 2017, 4:37 PM UTC

Any idea what would happen to chat boxes that pop up on companies websites? they don't block the content and are there to interact with customers (think olark). Does anyone know if that would lead to lower search ranking as well?

Re: Google will punish sites that use annoying pop-up ads

#26

Post by zo1 » Sun, Sep 10, 2017, 4:53 PM UTC

Not as bad as Google punishing sites that host conservative/controversial authors and viewpoints:

http://www.thelibertyconservative.com/google-issues-ultimatu...

Re: Google will punish sites that use annoying pop-up ads

#27

Post by kutkloon7 » Sun, Sep 10, 2017, 4:54 PM UTC

While I hate ads, I also think google has way too much power already, and this is not a healthy development.

Re: Google will punish sites that use annoying pop-up ads

#28

Post by Animats » Sun, Sep 10, 2017, 4:56 PM UTC

Does this mean they'll get rid of their own popup ad:

   Get to Google faster. 
   Switch your default search engine to Google. 
   Yes, show me.

There's not even a "No" option.

(Google is my default search engine. I just have their tracking blocked, so they can't check this. Lame.)

Re: Google will punish sites that use annoying pop-up ads

#29

Post by matt4077 » Sun, Sep 10, 2017, 5:05 PM UTC

sokoloff wrote: post #6

tyingq wrote: post #3

Google is very concerned about ads that visually block text content. But somehow forcing ads in front of videos on YouTube isn't the same exact thing? Both force an ad to be looked at before granting you access to the content you came for. I don't get the distinction.

Google owns one of them, so there's that distinction...

Have you ever seen the little "x" in the corner of google display ads? If you click it, you're asked for the reason you're objecting to the ad. Among them "ad covers content".

Meaning: you shouldn't always assume the worst, especially if there's evidence against it.

Re: Google will punish sites that use annoying pop-up ads

#30

Post by Sylos » Sun, Sep 10, 2017, 5:13 PM UTC

mikewhy wrote: post #12

tyingq wrote: post #3

Google is very concerned about ads that visually block text content. But somehow forcing ads in front of videos on YouTube isn't the same exact thing? Both force an ad to be looked at before granting you access to the content you came for. I don't get the distinction.

Not to defend the ad industry, but I don't think these are equivalent. YouTube ads don't block content so much as they delay it, much like inline ads. The equivalent YouTube ad would be if it started playing and didn't pause the video you're trying to watch.

There's two kinds of on-video ads on YouTube. The ones that you described, which play before or during the video that you're watching, pausing the video, and then the ads that display in a little overlay at the bottom of the video.

I don't see how either of these would be alright by this new pseudo-policy, but your argument most definitely does not apply to the latter kind.