"Back button hijacking occurs when a site prevents users from using their back button to immediately get back to the page they came from. Users are instead sent to pages they never visited before, be presented with unsolicited recommendations or ads, or are otherwise just prevented from normally browsing the web."
"Google Search is now classifying back button hijacking as a violation of its malicious practices spam policy. Malicious practices create a mismatch between user expectations and the actual outcome, leading to a negative and deceptive user experience, or compromised user security or privacy."
"Pages that engage in this deceptive practice will be subject to manual spam actions or automated demotions, which can impact the site's performance in Google Search results. Google says it has seen a rise of this type of behavior."
Back button hijacking prevents users from returning to previous pages, redirecting them instead to unwanted content. This practice disrupts browser functionality and user experience. Google has classified it as a violation of its spam policy, which can result in manual actions or automated demotions in search results. The company has observed an increase in such behavior and is giving site owners two months to address these issues before enforcement begins on June 15, 2026.
Read at 9to5Google
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