Google announced an upcoming change to its mobile search results, which is aimed at making it easier for users to find the content they’re looking for.
Specifically, Google said that after Jan. 10, 2017, pages where content is “not easily accessible” to users as they arrive from Google’s mobile search results may not rank as highly in those search results.
In a blog post, Doantam Phan, product manager at Google, explained the upcoming change:
Although the majority of pages now have text and content on the page that is readable without zooming, we?ve recently seen many examples where these pages show intrusive interstitials to users. While the underlying content is present on the page and available to be indexed by Google, content may be visually obscured by an interstitial. This can frustrate users because they are unable to easily access the content that they were expecting when they tapped on the search result. Pages that show intrusive interstitials provide a poorer experience to users than other pages where content is immediately accessible. This can be problematic on mobile devices where screens are often smaller. To improve the mobile search experience, after Jan. 10, 2017, pages where content is not easily accessible to a user on the transition from the mobile search results may not rank as highly.
Phan provided three examples of negative interstitials that make content “less accessible” to users:

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