Sean Walsh
Sean is a Director at Intelligency heading up our digital marketing and client services operations. Sean has 15+ years experiencing working both in-house and agency with brands including Lloyds, Alstom, Hitachi, Lufthansa, Viaplay, DFDS Seaways and Mercedes-Benz.
Interstitials, or pop-ups, are overlays that block part or all of a website’s content, often for promotional purposes. These can be disruptive, negatively impacting both user experience and SEO. Google considers intrusive interstitials harmful and may demote sites using them, even without a formal penalty.
Google’s official guidance on interstitials
Google advises avoiding intrusive interstitials and dialogs that block content. They can frustrate users, degrade trust, and make it harder for search engines to understand a site’s structure. Instead, use banners or unobtrusive alternatives to improve both usability and search performance. Banners take up less screen space and allow users to interact with the content more seamlessly.
Key recommendations from Google:
- Avoid covering content: Pop-ups or full-page interstitials that obstruct the view of the content should be avoided unless legally required.
- Use banners or slide-ins: These offer a less disruptive way to capture attention while allowing users to access your content immediately.
- Common libraries and plugins: Use standard plugins for pop-ups, such as newsletter sign-up prompts, to ensure a smoother user experience.
- Mandatory interstitials, like age verification or legal notices, are generally exempt from these guidelines, but it’s recommended to design them in a way that search engines can still crawl and index your content.
Findings from Anna Crowe’s case study
Anna Crowe recently wrote a great case study about interstitials for Search Engine Land (it’s worth a read), a client lost significant traffic after launching intrusive pop-ups across their site. Here are the main findings:
- Organic traffic loss: An 82% drop in the first month and a further 97% decline in the second.
- Keyword rankings fall: Desktop rankings dropped by 97%, with mobile rankings dropping by 96%, particularly affecting branded terms.
- Page speed impact: Pop-ups led to slower load times, from 3 seconds to 13 seconds, which contributed to a further decline in search rankings.
These issues occurred despite there being no formal penalty for the interstitials, emphasising how user experience factors into SEO.
Alternatives to interstitials
To avoid SEO penalties and improve user experience, consider these alternatives to intrusive interstitials:
- Banner ads: Place promotional messages in banners at the top or bottom of the screen, allowing users to view content without interruption.
- In-line calls to action (CTAs): Integrate CTAs directly into the page content, making them a natural part of the user’s reading experience.
- Slide-ins: Use smaller, less intrusive elements that slide in from the side of the page, grabbing attention without blocking main content.
- Exit-intent pop-ups: Triggered when a user is about to leave the page, these pop-ups are less disruptive and still effective for capturing user attention.
- Time- or scroll-based pop-ups: Delay pop-ups to trigger based on how long users are on the page or how far they scroll, giving them time to engage with your content first.
While interstitials can seem like an effective way to capture conversions, they often hurt SEO and user experience. Google advises using more subtle options like banners, slide-ins, or delayed pop-ups. Following best practices helps maintain user trust, optimize site performance, and avoid ranking demotions.
