Google Photos App Install Interstitials Are Google Penalty Worthy

Dec 24, 2015 - 8:19 am 7 by

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As you know, Google warned and then launched the Google App Install Interstitial penalty in early November. The purpose was to provide a better experience for mobile searchers.

But the Google Photos team doesn't agree, I guess. They are using full screen app install interstitials ads when you try to view a photo hosted on Google Photos. In fact, Eric Wu spotted it when doing a search in Google, on his mobile device, then clicking from the search result to Google Photos. He posted this on Twitter and shared a screen shot.

This is what he saw after clicking on the Google Photos link from Google's mobile results:

Google Photos Interstital

This is exactly the experience Google's search team is looking to avoid. So what went wrong? Potentially Google is testing showing some the app install interstitials and some not? I am not sure but this is not a good experience.

Eric Wu asked, in a sarcastic manner, "So I went to Google Photos from search and saw this .... Does that count as an interstitial?"

Forum discussion at Twitter.

 

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