What is Google’s stance on mobile pop-ups?
Google has specific guidelines regarding intrusive mobile pop-ups, and it’s essential that your pop-up adheres to these guidelines. In 2017, the company introduced the Intrusive Interstitials Update to deal directly with these.
Despite Google’s stance on mobile pop-ups, you can stop them from hindering your search rankings if you’re strategic. Only use pop-ups when doing so makes sense, and avoid being excessive with them. Other things to do are:
- Use succinct messaging.
- Leverage contrasting colors.
- Offer a close option for pop-ups to accommodate user preferences.
How do mobile pop-ups affect SEO?
Whether mobile pop-ups help or harm your SEO efforts will depend entirely on how you use them. Intrusive pop-ups can result in more people clicking away from your website, but ones that make sense can increase user engagement.
Think about how your pop-ups fit into the broader context of bounce rates and other SEO factors. Using a website builder that’s already optimized for mobile, and creating pop-ups within this, is also a consideration.
How can I use pop-ups effectively on mobile devices?
To effectively use mobile pop-ups, you must consider multiple factors. Besides optimizing the pop-up in general, you also need to think about how it’ll interact with different screen sizes.
Consider each of these when designing your mobile pop-ups:
- Device optimization: Make sure that your mobile pop-up fits across different screen resolutions and devices. Consider how it will interact with different mobile browsers and operating systems.
- Clear messaging: Create clear and concise copy for your pop-up, and create clear calls to action (CTAs).
- Balance: Though not being intrusive is important, you must also get your points across to your audience.
- Testing: Besides testing your pop-ups on different mobile devices, make sure that it adheres to Google’s UX protocols.
- Tailoring: Personalize your pop-ups if possible, based on your mobile audience’s needs. Do this via segmentation.
What are the best practices for designing mobile pop-ups?
Since mobile pop-ups can be annoying when not designed correctly, it’s important that you understand the best practices for avoiding issues. Some of these are:
- Responsiveness: Test your mobile pop-ups for responsiveness on multiple devices.
- Choosing colors: Pick colors with high contrast so that they’re more accessible; consider your brand colors so that they match your site/app.
- Limiting elements: Only include elements that are an absolute necessity.
Implement each of these elements in your mobile pop-ups, and iterate as you get more details about how users interact with them.
What are the optimal dimensions for mobile pop-ups?
Understanding dimensions is a crucial part of mobile pop-up optimization. Generally speaking, pop-up windows should be at least 294 x 150 pixels. They also should not be bigger than 510 x 424 pixels.
Mobile devices are typically in a 9:16 aspect ratio, and for this reason, you must optimize your pop-ups accordingly. When creating them, make sure that users can easily close them if they want to.
Though these are guidelines to follow, they may not apply to your situation. So, it’s best that you test your pop-ups and ensure that they meet your requirements. You should also think about the difference in screen size on smartphones and tablets.
Conclusion
Mobile pop-ups can be useful, but ensuring that you don’t experience the negative impacts on UX and SEO is vital. Your pop-ups should add value to your website or app and not be intrusive. Give users an easy way to click away if they want to, and use clear and concise copy.
Use the correct dimensions for your mobile pop-ups, in addition to using colors that match your brand. Iterating on your pop-up designs is a key consideration, and you should also segment your messaging where possible.
So that your pop-ups are more effective, use a clear CTA that tells users what to do next. Fewer elements can increase responsiveness; critically assess what’s absolutely vital and leave the rest out.
