Google Has Started Penalizing Mobile Websites with Intrusive Pop-Up Ads

Post by Angostura » Fri, Jan 20, 2017, 10:34 AM UTC

Smirnoff wrote: post #276

jakubp wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately the info typically is on that page, just not complete - and you want more and Google knows it's the way to that information, so results are largely correct, no? If those sites show something else to you than they show to Google Bot, that's against Google's policy and they should be penalized, so I'm assuming they aren't. If energy required to get to the information you need through that path is too much…

Let's take a look at Quora's case. Please do the following: 1. Open your mobile browser. 2. Ask a question on Google and add "quora" so you get some results. 3. Open Quora's result link 4. See that result for a brief second and 5. Be forwarded to registration page, which doesn't have any close or cancel out buttons. 6. Try tapping back and you are back to Google results 7. Curse at Quora and never tap on their result…

Post by TeMPOraL » Fri, Jan 20, 2017, 10:50 AM UTC

bad_user wrote: post #271

inlined wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is related to my fundamental problem with A/B testing: when people A/B test individual variables they'll take a greedy optimization that gets stuck in local minima. The other problem is that you only understand the change in metrics you measure and things like "satisfaction" are often lost.

> greedy optimization that gets stuck in local minima I think you wanted to say local maxima , but yes I agree.

Post by visarga » Fri, Jan 20, 2017, 10:59 AM UTC

Smirnoff wrote: post #273

I really would like to see Google penalize websites that force you to login after google showed these websites in the results. 1. Take Linkedin for example: you search for a person on google; google shows a linkedin result; you go to linkedin but you are greeted with giant popup asking you to login to view info. Ridiculous. 2. Same with Quora: they come in results with basic info, but when you go to their page, they…

Post by agopaul » Fri, Jan 20, 2017, 11:25 AM UTC

bastawhiz wrote: post #214

ageitgey wrote: post #82

Most users hate these pop-ups and cheer this move from Google. But let me add a little context to why these ads are so prevalent and why some companies view this move as Google abusing their power. If you visit to any "guide" website like TripAdviser, Yelp, etc, these days on a mobile browser, you'll notice that the sites often barely let you do anything without downloading the native app. They all but refuse to let…

Counterpoint: this is (mostly) a zero-sum game. If sitewithpopups.com gets bumped down a slot, someone else gets bumped up, and the site getting bumped up is either a.) more relevant or b.) isn't being a jerk to its users. Google's widgets aren't going away; if you're going to be mad, be mad at the widgets, not the pushing-you-to-not-be-awful. I think we can all agree that these types of overlays are terrible for use…

Post by lorenzhs » Fri, Jan 20, 2017, 11:34 AM UTC

mulmen wrote: post #278

Smirnoff wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's take a look at Quora's case. Please do the following: 1. Open your mobile browser. 2. Ask a question on Google and add "quora" so you get some results. 3. Open Quora's result link 4. See that result for a brief second and 5. Be forwarded to registration page, which doesn't have any close or cancel out buttons. 6. Try tapping back and you are back to Google results 7. Curse at Quora and never tap on their result…

For a short(?) but wonderful period of time it was possible to blacklist sites from your Google search results. As I recall Google moved this functionality into the Chrome browser several years ago. When it was still available as an account setting I used it to filter out the awful "resources" like expertsexchange and that one Oracle consultant site with the hilarious pictures. When I see Quora results I long for tha…