You are on a browser and you open a link that seems interesting to you. But, once you’re there, the content ultimately doesn’t interest you. So you decide to go back using the browser’s back button or function. However, when you do this, you do not return to the previous page. Instead, the site redirects you to an ad or another page that you have not visited. If this has ever happened to you, you have already fallen victim to a trap called “back button hijacking”.
To get more traffic or to force you to see ads, website developers interfere with the normal functioning of the browser to trick Internet users. But the good news is that Google has finally decided to intervene to put an end to this practice, because it has observed an increase in this type of behavior on websites. In an announcement published this week, the Mountain View firm explains that the use of “back button hijacking” will now be considered a malicious practice by its search engine.
Google will dissuade publishers
Google’s decision will certainly not eradicate this practice. However, it will strongly discourage site publishers, since this could have an impact on visibility on their search engine. “Pages that use back button hijacking may be subject to manual spam actions or automated demotions, which may impact the site’s performance in Google search results,” explains the firm. Publishers who try to trap visitors will therefore have an interest in updating their websites to avoid suffering a loss of traffic.
Historically, Google has acted as a sort of arbiter of the web. When the number of visits to mobile sites exceeded those from computers, it, for example, modified its search engine to favor websites whose design is optimized for small smartphone screens. Google has also strongly encouraged websites to adopt the HTTPS protocol, which allows for a more secure connection to websites, via updates to Google Chrome.
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