Google halts annoying ‘Interstitial’ Mobile App Ads

Mobile web users are often irritated by the interstitial ad that often pops up to promote the website’s native app. However this week Google has eliminated its ads and did a big favor to users.

An internal user study had revealed that mobile Google+ users did not relish the annoying full-page ads inviting them to download the Google+ app. Delving deeper Google found that 9 percent of the visits to its interstitial page led to someone pressing the Get App button but a whopping 69% user abandoned the page altogether, without visiting the app store or even continuing to the Google+ site.

As a follow-up to the study, Google removed the interstitial ad and replaced it with a less intrusive ad for the app instead. As a result, active users on its mobile website increased by 17 percent, and native Google+ apps remained unaffected.

David Morell, a software engineer for Google+, said in a blog post that stopping the interstitial ad led to an increase in users of Google products. Google further added that it hopes other mobile sites will follow suit and reconsider the use of interstitial promotions.

Interstitial ads that appear when the user loads a mobile site suggesting the user to install the app can be pretty annoying. Google realized in time that the users are quitting the entire site and going elsewhere. Users are put off by overaggressive advertisements and suggestions about how the users should be searching. Experts opine that users are smart enough to decide which the best option is, and companies should stop suggesting options.

Experts believe that instead of marketing the application by interstitial ads they should devote more time and resources to improve data and the services that they provide. If the services are good, it will surely draw the users.

Google’s action will, however, annoy some of the site owners who have invested money and time developing the app.

About the author

Mary Woods

Mary nurses a deep passion for any kind of technical or technological happenings all around the globe. She is currently putting up in Miami. Internet is her forte and writing articles on the net for modern day technological wonders are her only hobby. You can find her at mary@pc-tablet.com.

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