Google Survey Test Hijack Horror!

Anyone remember this guy? Harry Enfield character, think he was called Frank Rottweiler. He’d sit in the pub discussing some mundane aspect of celebrity news offering his worldly advice and then rant starting with “OI, (celebrity name), NOOO!”

No? OK I am showing my age…

This morning that image came flashing back to me. Cup of tea in hand, I innocently typed into my browser google.com/analytics

Did I go to analytics?

No

Instead I got this:

“Hmm,” I thought, “that isn’t a pop up survey its an actual page.” What annoyed me more was there is no option to decline the offer and actually go to the site I typed in.

I can see you now giving me an odd look and thinking – “What are you rambling on about Jan?” It will all become clear in a moment…

My online journey was hijacked. I was sent to a page I didn’t want or ask for with no way out other than to close the tab and start again.

Now if you or I did that with our websites and were caught out, our site would be frog marched out of Googles Index. It’s simply not good practice, very deceptive and creates a bad user experience.

So, I answered the survey 3 questions in the hope I would be directed back. Not a cats chance in hell. No now they want my confirmed mobile and I could win a prize…

Do I look like a mug? (don’t answer that!)

No way am I giving my permission to have my mobile spammed to death with offers I don’t want or need.

Why are Google testing survey redirects and ignoring their own guidelines?

A quick (Google) search and there’s very little info coming back. SEOBook have a blog post – not surprising they’re always on the ball. It appears to be a test.

Of course, Google are always testing something. It’s just irritating they are testing surveys so deceptively.

Redirecting me to a no escape survey? Oi! Google! NO!