Avoid intrusive interstitials
Intrusive interstitials are a barrier for screen reader users who may not know a modal is blocking the page — they hear content that appears interactive but cannot activate it. Keyboard users may find focus trapped behind an overlay with no way to dismiss it. Users on mobile are most affected visually, as full-screen pop-ups eliminate all access to content until dismissed. Additionally, Google Search penalizes mobile pages with intrusive interstitials in search rankings.
Quick Reference
- Full-screen pop-ups that cover the main content immediately on mobile page load are penalized by Google Search (January 2017 Intrusive Interstitials Update)
- Acceptable interstitials: age verification, legally required notices (cookie consent where legally mandated), login walls for private content
- Unacceptable: pop-ups covering the main content area on mobile that are not easy to dismiss
- For accessibility: modal dialogs must trap focus, be dismissible by keyboard (Escape key), and return focus to the trigger element
- WCAG 2.1 SC 2.1.2 (No Keyboard Trap): users must be able to move focus away from any component using the keyboard
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