Google makes "back button hijacking" an explicit spam violation; enforcement starts June 15

The announcement

Google’s Search Central blog has added "back button hijacking" to its spam policies, marking the practice as a form of malicious behavior that can trigger manual spam actions or automated demotions in search results. The company says the explicit policy takes effect June 15, 2026, giving site owners roughly two months to remedy any offending code. The post was published by Chris Nelson on behalf of the Google Search Quality team.

What counts as back button hijacking?

Back button hijacking is exactly what it sounds like: when a site interferes with a user’s browser navigation so the back button doesn’t return them to the previous page. Instead, users can be bounced to pages they never visited, shown unsolicited recommendations or ads, or otherwise prevented from a normal browsing experience. It’s simple: people expect the back button to work. When it doesn’t, they feel manipulated—frustrated, annoyed, and less likely to return. Who hasn’t felt that little twinge of anger when a site plays tricks?

Why Google is acting (and what to do)

Google frames the move as a user-experience protection: malicious practices that create a mismatch between expectation and outcome are already against Search Essentials, and this simply codifies one particular nasty trick. Site owners are instructed to remove or disable any scripts, libraries, ad-platform code, or configurations that insert deceptive pages into browser history. If you get a manual action and you fix the issue, submit a reconsideration request in Search Console.

Context and takeaways

This is part of a broader industry pushback against dark patterns and adtech trickery; browsers and platforms have been tightening policies for years. Think of it as Google slapping a reflective vest on the back button—making sure the digital safety rails actually keep you on track. For publishers and ad partners, now’s the time for a quick audit. Clean up the code, or risk being pushed down the search rankings.

Sources: developers.google.com, Hacker News