Related to our previous post about the roll out of the Google Page Experience Update that’s coming to desktop sites in February 2022, we now have confirmation that intrusive interstitials as a signal will also apply.

Google’s John Mueller confirmed on twitter saying:

Yes, that’s my understanding. Essentially all of the Page Experience factors would then apply to desktop too.

This is important to know if you run a site that features pop ups of any variety when this update goes live. If you use lots of interstitials on your desktop site and any of these feel intrusive in any way, be aware that you could get dinged on your page experience scores.

The penalty for intrusive interstitials on mobile had a minimal impact when it first launched back in 2017 and the page experience update had a minimal impact on rankings over the last year, so it seems likely this will continue with this new update in 2022.

If you want to know how your site currently ranks in the eyes of Google, get yourself a free review and talk with us today.