When you click through a Google search to a website, find the content doesn't meet your expectations, and press the "Back" button in your browser, are you forcibly blocked and redirected to a page filled with ads or recommended articles? This kind of webpage behavior, like a "terrifying lover" relentlessly pestering you and preventing you from leaving smoothly, is about to become a problem.Facing severe sanctions from Google.
According to the latest policy announced by Google's search team, this technique, known as "back button hijacking," will be officially classified as "malicious behavior" that violates the spam policy. In the future, websites that violate this rule will face penalties such as a significant drop in search rankings or even removal from the search list. The new rule is expected to be enforced starting June 15 this year.
What is "previous page hijacking"?
In a normal web browsing experience, when we click on a search result to enter a webpage, if we want to return to the search list, we can simply press the browser's "previous page" button to seamlessly return to the previous browsing page.
However, some websites that are extremely eager for traffic and ad clicks will use techniques such as maliciously writing into the browser history (History API) to interfere with the user's return path. When you press the "previous page" button, the browser will not take you back to the Google search results, but will instead redirect you to a "blocking page" pre-set by the website - which usually has a description such as "Since you're here, why not take a look at these..." and is filled with dense links to content farms or advertisements.
This kind of aggressive sales tactics are not only offensive, but also seriously undermine the basic logic of website navigation.
Treated as malware! Google issues final ultimatum by June 15th.
According to an official Google announcement, Google has had enough of this manipulation of users.
In a statement, Chris Nelson of Google's Search Quality team stated, "'Previous page hijacking' interferes with the normal functioning of the browser, disrupts user expectations, and leads to a significant negative user experience. People report feeling manipulated by it, ultimately causing them to avoid visiting unfamiliar websites." He further emphasized that forcibly inserting deceptive or manipulative pages into users' browsing history has always violated Google Search's fundamental principles.
Therefore, Google decided to take strong measures, officially treating "page hijacking" as equivalent to the distribution of malware, and including it in [the relevant regulations/programs].Search for garbage policies "Malicious practices" in (Spam policies).
Google has issued an ultimatum to developers and website operators worldwide: they must conduct a thorough review and remove any interfering code by June 15th. Once the warning deadline has passed, Google's algorithms and manual review mechanisms will begin strict enforcement, and the search rankings of violating websites will face devastating consequences.
