Introducing a new spam policy for "back button hijacking"
: Added a new section to the
malicious practices spam policy
to address a deceptive practice known as "back button hijacking".
Why
: Learn more about this update in our
blog post on back button hijacking
.
Brand Impact
Google AI is cracking down on websites that trick users by hijacking the browser's back button to redirect them somewhere unexpected instead of taking them to the previous page. This change means Google will penalize and demote websites that use this deceptive tactic in search rankings and recommendations. Brands and products associated with trustworthy, legitimate websites will get better visibility, while those relying on these sneaky redirect tricks will lose visibility to users searching through Google.
Original source ↗ Crawled: 15 Apr 2026 10:53