Google Mobile has announced it would begin cracking down on mobile sites that serve up app install ads that hide much of the content from users and prompt them to install applications.
The search giant said it will indicate during its Mobile-Friendly Tests when a site should avoid showing such pop-up interstitials. Beginning November 1, sites that disregard Google’s advice and present too many obtrusive app install ads will no longer be designated as “mobile-friendly.” As a result, they risk being penalized in the form of a lower ranking on Google’s mobile search results pages.
According to 51 Research Senior Analyst Raúl Castañón, the good news is this initiative will significantly improve the user experience. “The bad: Google uses app install ads to promote its own mobile apps. The ugly: a potential conflict of interest is in itself a problem.
“Google’s dominance across the value chain lends itself to abuses and potential conflict of interest; this is not a healthy scenario for anyone, even for Google,” he continues. “The possibility that a single player can single-handedly influence the market in a way that can undermine other players is deemed anti-competitive; and the Sherman Antitrust Act requires the federal government to investigate. We’ve heard this many times before, and it holds true now more than ever: Google is the new Microsoft. This is not a compliment.”
