Google Will Punish Sites That Hijack Your Back Button
Sites that mess with your browser's back button face search ranking demotions under Google's new spam policy starting June.
Google is officially cracking down on one of the web's most annoying tricks. The company has classified "back button hijacking" as malicious behavior under a new spam policy. Sites that interfere with your browser's back button functionality could see their search rankings tank.
The enforcement kicks in starting June. Websites caught trapping users — preventing them from navigating back to previous pages — will face demotion in Google Search results.
Back button hijacking has plagued the web for years. Shady sites use it to keep users stuck on their pages, often to boost ad impressions or push unwanted content. Google is now treating it the same way it treats other spam tactics: as grounds for reduced visibility.
It's a straightforward move. Break the browser, lose your search traffic. Hard to argue with that logic.