Introducing a new spam policy for "back button hijacking"

April 13, 2026

Today, we are expanding our spam policies to reside a deceptive believe known arsenic "back fastener hijacking", which will go an explicit usurpation of the "malicious practices" of spam policies, starring to imaginable spam actions.

What is backmost fastener hijacking?

When a personification clicks the "back" fastener successful the browser, they person a clear expectation: they want to return to the erstwhile page. Back fastener hijacking breaks this basal expectation. It occurs erstwhile a tract interferes pinch a user's browser navigation and prevents them from utilizing their back fastener to instantly get backmost to the page they came from. Instead, users mightiness beryllium sent to pages they ne'er visited before, beryllium presented pinch unsolicited recommendations aliases ads, aliases are otherwise conscionable prevented from usually browsing the web.

Why are we taking action?

We judge that the personification acquisition comes first. Back fastener hijacking interferes pinch the browser's functionality, breaks the expected personification journey, and results successful personification frustration. People study emotion manipulated and yet little consenting to sojourn unfamiliar sites. As we've stated before, inserting deceptive aliases manipulative pages into a user's browser history has ever been against our Google Search Essentials.

We've seen a emergence of this type of behavior, which is why we're designating this an definitive violation of our malicious practices policy, which says:

Malicious practices create a mismatch betwixt personification expectations and the existent outcome, starring to a antagonistic and deceptive personification experience, aliases compromised personification information aliases privacy.

Pages that are engaging successful backmost fastener hijacking whitethorn beryllium taxable to manual spam actions aliases automated demotions, which tin effect the site's capacity successful Google Search results. To give tract owners clip to make immoderate needed changes, we're publishing this argumentation 2 months successful beforehand of enforcement connected June 15, 2026.

What should tract owners do?

Ensure you are not doing thing to interfere pinch a user's expertise to navigate their browser history.

If you're presently utilizing immoderate book aliases method that inserts aliases replaces deceptive or manipulative pages into a user's browser history that prevents them from utilizing their backmost button to instantly get backmost to the page they came from, you are expected to region aliases disable it.

Notably, immoderate instances of backmost fastener hijacking whitethorn originate from the site's included libraries aliases advertizing platform. We promote tract owners to thoroughly reappraisal their technical implementation and region aliases disable immoderate code, imports aliases immoderate configurations that are responsible for backmost fastener hijacking, to guarantee a adjuvant and non-deceptive acquisition for users.

If your tract has been impacted by a manual action and you person fixed the issue, you tin ever let america cognize by submitting a reconsideration request successful Search Console. For questions aliases feedback, consciousness free to scope retired on social media aliases talk in our help community.

Posted by Chris Nelson connected behalf of the Google Search Quality team