Back button hijacking, a practice that interferes with normal web browser back button functioning, is now against Google Search’s guidelines.
Sites that engage in back button hijacking will be subject to penalties on Google Search, including lower ranking in search results.
The change will be enforced beginning on June 15.
Google’s cracking down on an annoying behavior called back button hijacking. The practice, which sees websites interfere with a browser’s back button to stop users easily navigating away or to send them to pages they wouldn’t otherwise have visited, now officially runs afoul of Google Search’s spam policies, meaning you should see them in search results less often.
Google detailed the change in a blog post today. The post says that back button hijacking has been on the rise lately and, because it’s objectively bad for the user experience, it’ll be designated a “malicious practice,” a change that means sites that mess with your back button can face consequences like lower search ranking.
