Google ends back button hijacking, will de-rank websites for 'phantom pages': Is yours at risk?

Google is about to penalise websites that send users to a phantom page when they click the back button instead of actually returning them to their previous page. The search giant will classify as a malicious practice going forward. Known as back button hijacking, it is a method websites use to gain a few more clicks by offering more content when the user hits the back button. Normally, this step should take you to the previous page, but instead, you land on something that looks like a home page filled with content that might appeal to users. Google had so far tolerated this, but will now designate it a "malicious practice" from June this year. The motive behind taking users to a new page is to gain a few more clicks. Since this page was never visited previously by the user, it is also dubbed the phantom page.

Websites cheating users with back button

Google says the back button should do what it is intended for and not dupe users by deploying deceptive methods to lure them into clicking content they didn't ask for. The company says the practice is a deceptive user experience, which could lead people to feel cheated who might not ever visit an unfamiliar page in the future. Google is not setting up new rules to counter this practice and is instead enforcing a section of the malicious practices 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," a portion of the rule reads.

When will Google enforce the rule?

The rule will be enforced from June 15, 2026. Websites that continue to insert the phantom page through back button hijacking will face automated or manual anti-spam actions, and could drastically fall in page rank in search. This would mean a massive hit to their traffic since several websites rely heavily on clicks through searches. Google has said that websites have ample time to fix the issue of back button hijacking. While some websites have deployed them directly, others often have it because of a third-party library or advertising stack.