Google has declared its intention to categorize hijacking of the browser’s “Back” button as a violation of its policy concerning spam. Sites employing this method will shortly start experiencing demotions in search result rankings, as reported by 9to5Google.
Navigation button hijacking occurs when a website prevents visitors from returning to the preceding page after they press the “Back” button in their browser. Instead of the expected outcome, users are forcibly redirected to unfamiliar pages, subjected to intrusive advertisements or suggestions, or otherwise hindered in their normal internet browsing.
Google has classified these types of manipulations as “malicious practices” that contravene company policy. According to this document, malicious actions create a discrepancy between user expectations and the actual result, thereby degrading the user experience or compromising security and privacy.
The company emphasized that the source of these issues might not solely be the site’s proprietary scripts, but also integrated advertising platforms or third-party libraries. Google advises site owners to meticulously review their technical implementation and disable any code that interferes with browser navigation. Pages detected engaging in navigation hijacking will face manual penalties or automatic ranking reductions.
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