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... It's been said that google is going to start penalising sites that have pop-ups interms of page ranking. Fact or fiction?
Chris.
Fact. The first to go to PR0 are Yahoo.
You forgot to add a smilie, in this paranoid environment some will take your post at face value :)
I know.. the above paragraph sounds silly :)
But there are hundreds of companies out there that offer "Popup advertising solutions". What's going to happen to them?
2nd will be AOL
They need to find a new line of business. 9 out of 10 people despise the popups. They are just as bad as unwanted, unsolicited junk mail. I stopped using AV and MSN because of the popups. How many others do you think went that route?
I personally would like to see an all out ban on popups. They interfere with my browsing experience and they also cause delays. Kudos to Google if they are penalizing sites with popups, they deserve the penalty!
If Google does this, there will be many casualties...
Are Google going to penalise sites using popups? Is there evidence (or articles) to this effect?
Chris
Would you show any concern if the spam mail industry went bust? We can but dream.... ;)
Are Google going to penalise sites using popups?
Not that anyone seems to have heard of... except for your colleague.
It would not therefore be out of character to penalise sites that use them. However, this would mean that a lot of important sites would be affected, as well as a large proportion of the freely-hosted sites.
New search engine that only indexes pop-up free, trap-free, and pop-under free" web sites.
...that only indexes pop-up free, trap-free, and pop-under free,,,
As much as I hate being disrupted in the middle of my browsing, that doesn't makes any sense. The target of a search engine is sending the user to the information needed. A search engine has absolutely no responsability for categorizing sites as "more evil" or "less evil", just for sorting every site that has any info about a theme dinamically.
Maybe (and only maybe) I would like an evilmeter on the search result, then the client would choose less evil sites given the chance. But even then that is a thorny concept.
What a GREAT idea! The next killer app for the SE biz. Presenting...the EVILMETER! It may be a thorny issue, but so what? Ranking websites the way SEs do now is also a thorny issue. The mind boggles as to what a programmer might want to put in an Evilmeter, and what weight to give to each evil item. Redirects? Ten popups is more evil than one popup. Mousetraps peg the Evilmeter. This is a way to give advance warning to the web surfer what will happen if they click that link in the SERPs.
I'm sure Google does not find this "evil" (eventhough technically, opening a link in a new window is a popup) because the AdWords co-ordinators do not seem to have a problem with my site.
Is it considered bad design to have links open up in a new window? (Sorry.. a little off the track. Should I start a new thread in the "Webmaster General" forum?)
>kudos to GoogleYeah, Google isn't doing anything even remotely close to that now.
Well generally I don't think it's a good idea to ask for a large private company with specific business interests
to rule how the web works.
Probably not what you had in mind though
I could see this being a factor in ranking one day. I mean if you search, you want relevant content, right? When you click on a site that immediately displays a pop-up/under, are you getting relevant content? You're getting two sites, when you asked for one. AND, there is a pretty good chance the 2nd is NOT on topic. So, why couldn't this be a factor in ranking?
All of that said, I don't belive this report, and I don't think Google will be doing this any time soon (just one newbie's opinion/speculation).
Even if they want to do i am not positive about the technical feasibility of this.Most sites popup windows using javascript and i dont think google can understand JS .
My two cents ...
vibgyor79,
My website does not have popup ads but I have many links to other sites that opens in a new window. Clicking on these links take the visitors to another website. I have included 'em because I don't want my visitors to leave my website.I'm sure Google does not find this "evil" (eventhough technically, opening a link in a new window is a popup) because the AdWords co-ordinators do not seem to have a problem with my site.
As much as I hate being disrupted in the middle of my browsing, that doesn't makes any sense. The target of a search engine is sending the user to the information needed. A search engine has absolutely no responsability for categorizing sites as "more evil" or "less evil", just for sorting every site that has any info about a theme dinamically.
One could argue that a page with pop-ups (especially multiple pop-ups) is less relevant than one without, since the page actually consists of two, three, or even four pages: one with the content the user is searching for, and the others with irrelevant content. So it wouldn't be unreasonable for Google's algorithm to calculate a lower "relevance value" for pages that launch pop-ups or pop-unders (which are simply additional pages, albeit small ones, in browser windows).
One could also argue that a pop-up or pop-under is a kind of redirect or cloaking. The user searches for "Pavarotti," and a server-launched browser window displays "Bud's CD-ROM City." In effect, the site with the "Pavarotti" content is tricking the search engine into pointing the reader to Bud's CD-ROM City along with the desired page. If I were running Google, I might regard that as spamming my search engine.
Is it considered bad design to have links open up in a new window?
If overused, this technique can be annoying, confusing, or alarming to users. But sometimes it's necessary--e.g., when a linked site traps users intentionally or because the designer was an idiot.
On my site, affiliate links open in new browser windows. I've chosen this approach because my affiliate links are clearly labeled as ads or partner links, and readers may want to click through to a vendor without losing track of where they were on my site.
My editorial links don't open in a new window *unless* the reader's main browser window would be trapped by the site. (I try to avoid linking to such sites, but sometimes they're too important, valuable, or authoritative to be ignored.) If I do have an editorial link open in a new window, I say so in my annotation. ("This site will open in a new browser window.")
Google can't determine a good pop up from a bad pop up. So I don't think they are going to start penalizing web sites. Also most pop ups are java based and googlebot won't even see them...
Google uses it - click on AdWords "Keyword Suggestion Tool" link just above the keyword entry form
I think in the future the bot will be able to read more js and css and detect a lot of things ppl take for granted as being invisible to the bot.
One could argue that a page with pop-ups (especially multiple pop-ups) is less relevant than one without, since the page actually consists of two, three, or even four pages: one with the content the user is searching for, and the others with irrelevant content.
Or if the pop-ups are relevant, one could argue that the user is getting *more* content. Pop-ups are often not irrelevant to the site's content. Sometimes the pop-up leads to a complementary site; one that usually makes money for the original site, but complementary nonetheless. For instance, let's say I own a site that does book reviews and I then pop-up a link to where the person can buy the book that I reviewed. I agree that excessive pop-ups are annoying, but I don't think a site should be penalized for non-circle jerk pop-ups.
AAnn
Just like many of the things that you and I get penalized for, sites like NY Times, ESPN, and other big commerical sites use with abandon.
What Google is telling us all is that unbranded websites are subject to their dominion. Build a brand and you are relevant no matter what you do on your website.
That seems fair to me. Rely on their traffic, abide by their rules. Build your own brand and traffic, and Google will come to you.
Bottom line is, search engines present the sites users want to see, and they do not want pop-up ads!. Or at least, not the automatic, intrusive type. So Google, penalize away!
It doesn't have to be a PR0, just an adjustment in rankings should prevent people from over using it and make browsing much more user friendly.
On the other end, for example, if a site is selling a product and a pop-up (only one per visitor/session) shows up displaying a promotional offer (say Free shipping), I personally think that site should attract no penalty whatsoever at all!. I am not going to argue that such a site should receive a favorable ranking either in the interest of preventing every site from coming up with a promotional pop-up offer to rank better on Google:)!. Of course, if Google wishes to dole out X-mas gifts to people, it can start favoring sites popping(only one please) a promotional offer;)!
