Guide to Use Interstitial Ads without Penalty

What are Interstitial Ads?

Interstitials are ads that cover the main content of a web page for a few seconds, generally when transitioning from one page to another. They are primarily used on mobile apps and desktop sites which lack traditional banner ads iframes.

From an advertiser standpoint, they can be more effective than banners by grabbing attention in contexts where users would not expect ads to appear.

How to use Interstitial Ads without Penalty. let’s follow this article

The default implementation of interstitials ads on Android devices, for example, displays a large full-screen ad when the user first opens an app and before transitioning them to the main content. This can be effective at increasing signups or other actions that benefit advertisers because it takes advantage of a moment when users are more likely to be interested in clicking on a promoted item as they explore what your app has to offer.

However, from a user standpoint, these ads can be perceived as intrusive or annoying since they take up screen space that could have been used for content, and users may not understand why the ad is being shown.

The consensus among Android developers has been that interstitial ads may have too high of a cost to user experience, which is why Google recently announced that they will be deprecating the use of these kinds of ads for apps published in the Play Store after August 1. Google has not addressed its future plans for other ad types like native ads or banners, but it’s likely that they will follow a similar path.

From an overall advertising standpoint, interstitial ads may be headed the way of the dinosaur as browsers move towards more ad-blocking technologies and users become more selective about which ads they are willing to accept.
A recent study by the Interactive Advertising Bureau found that almost 25 percent of internet users in the U.S. use ad blockers, and this number is only increasing as the years go on.

As we move towards a more mobile-first way of interacting with websites and apps, good UX and effective advertising must work together to find the right balance of encouraging users without hindering their experience. If you’re an app or website developer or a digital marketer who uses interstitial ads on your site or app, you may want to consider alternative strategies to monetize content that won’t leave a sour stigma.

How to Avoid Penalty in Interstitial Ads

You’ve probably heard about the latest Google mobile-friendly algo update that took place on April 21. And you also might know that on-page content, external links, and many other factors (especially developers’ tools) can impact your site rankings during this process. But there is one more stuff to which you should pay attention – interstitial ads` usage on mobile devices can work against your website too.

Because of low screen resolutions, mobile sites are usually built responsively, but many publishers use different ad formats to monetize their traffic. Why am I talking about mobile interstitial ads? Well, it’s because not all types of mobile ads are considered mobile-friendly by Google:

• Pages, where content is not easily accessible to a user on the transition from the mobile search results, may not rank as highly.

• Google’s new algorithm will probably work against sites using full-page ad formats, especially the ones that cover the main content. Google specifically names pop-up ads and interstitials – so it is advised to consider removing them until Google finishes reindexing all your pages. But what if you have a good reason for their usage? It’s very easy to find out whether or not they are beneficial for your website. Just use the Mobile-Friendly test tool.

If at least one of your interstitials passes this test, consider removing it unless you have a solid reason to leave it there. I’m talking about possible increased conversions here! Here are several examples when using an ad might be completely reasonable:

Trading an ad for valuable information (like downloading a guide or additional features); Displaying ads in exchange for allowing your visitors to access content without subscribing; Offering an ad-free, subscription version of the same content that is also mobile-friendly. As always there is no single solution that fits all! If you have found an effective way to monetize your site with interstitials etc., feel free to share it in the comments below.