Google is cracking down on mobile pop ups (after TODAY)!

Are you using a popup on your website? After today (January 10, 2017) Google is going to start punishing sites that have annoying popups or interstitials on mobile devices!

Say what?

Back in September I wrote a blog post called Google To Punish Annoying Popups on Mobile, to give you a ‘heads up’ about this upcoming change. I explained why the change was going to occur and which popups are BAD and which popups are GOOD.  You can read more about this here.

Note: This change is specific to mobile devices! You can still have popups on tablets and desktop devices.

Today, I’m offering some great popup options for you – that Google will not punish you for!

If you are using a MailMunch popup, they have plenty of great options for you. If you’re not using Mailmunch forms (which integrates with Mailchimp accounts and many other email marketing accounts – seen below), I’d suggest you start!

Option 1: Turn off the popup for mobile devices and use a Topbar form type.

Don’t have a Mailmunch popup, but would like this Topbar “banner” style. Sign up for Mailmunch at www.mailmunch.co, it’s free! And select the Topbar form option (seen below).

Then you can choose a theme and slightly customize (words and colors to match your branding). Here’s what my top bar looks like:

As you can see, it does not take up a lot of space, doesn’t block the content, isn’t obtrusive and 100% Google mobile approved! Note: This is what Google would consider a ‘banner’, that uses a reasonable amount of screen space and are easily dismissible.

You can decide if you want this form to show up on mobile devices only or desktop and tablet devices as well. This is done in the Mailmunch form editor, in BEHAVIOR, under DISPLAY RULES.

Note: I highly recommend you using popups on desktop devices, because they convert much better.

Option 2: Use embed forms for mobile devices.

Mailmunch has a few embed forms that can be placed anywhere on your site. You can put them above, below or in between your content.

Note: Whether you’re reading this blog post on your mobile, tablet or desktop device, I am using a Mailmunch embed form at the bottom of every blog post. Scroll past the “You Might Also Like” and there it is!

So now that you know Google is cracking down on mobile pop ups – after today – I hope you take action on implementing one of these mobile subscribe options!

It’s always good to stay in Google’s good search graces, since they are the #1 search engine that can drive a ton of traffic to your site.

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