Google has announced that it is rolling out a bevy of new protective solutions to Chrome in future releases of the web browser with the goal of preventing web pages from being redirected to unwanted destinations on the internet. The new measure is part of the search giant’s broader effort to get rid of annoying content and eventually improve the overall experience of users. It also complements other recent enhancements to Google Chrome such as Unified Autoplay that is meant to prevent unwanted sounds in videos from automatically playing.
One protection feature that will be coming to Google Chrome in early January is an improvement to the pop-up blocker that will forestall the opening of a new web page in another window or tab. Site owners can improve their website in case a number of abusive experiences are detected on their portal, which they can monitor through the newly launched Abusive Experience Report in the Google Search Console. If site owners fail to address any abusive experiences on their site after 30 days, Google will enable the pop-up blocker on their websites.
Another protection launching to Google Chrome in the near future will also prevent redirects that are often performed by third-party actors through content embedded into a webpage. The feature is coming in response to feedback from several users who reported that they encountered some sort of unintended content while browsing the World Wide Web. In a blog post published on Wednesday, Ryan Schoen, a product manager at Google, said that all web page redirects coming from third-party iframes will be halted and display an infobar so that the user remains on the website they’re currently using. While redirects often come in the form of unintended destination pages, there are other instances in which the main window shifts to a different page against the user’s expectations. Google plans to address such scenario with Chrome 65 by identifying problematic site behavior and preventing the main window from navigating to an unintended page. More details on the company’s upcoming Chrome features are expected to follow over the coming weeks, with the functionalities themselves being set to hit the beta channel before rolling out to all users.