The SEO Problem That Popup Plugins Won't Tell You About!
From Websites Made Simple: How to have a successful website design business by Holly Christie (Website Design Business Mentor)
April 6, 2026 · 18 min · Episode 57
About this episode
Holly Christie discusses the negative impacts of popups on user experience and SEO, offering alternatives to maintain high conversions without frustrating visitors.
If you keep finding yourself building features your clients ask for that quietly make their websites worse, this one's for you. Welcome to another episode of Websites Made Simple with me, Holly Christie. In this episode, I'm talking about popups — why they're usually doing the opposite of what your clients think they're doing, what to say when a client is dead set on having one, and what to do instead to keep conversions high without frustrating visitors straight off the page. We get into: Why popups interrupt the user experience in the worst possible way How popup design often looks spammy and quietly damages trust The SEO problem that popup plugins don't tell you about (hint: it's your H1) Why exit intent popups feel like surveillance — and why that's a problem How caching plugins can break popups entirely anyway What slide-ins are and how to use them without being annoying Floating buttons — how to use them properly (and what not to do on mobile) Dedicated signup sections that convert without the disruption How to push back when a client is dead set on having a popup Check out my new offer: https://websitesmadesimple.co.uk/sparks-group-mentoring/ It's a supportive group…
People in this episode
Host: Holly Christie
Topics covered
- SEO
- popups
- user experience
- website design
- client management
Keywords
- popups
- SEO problem
- user experience
- website design
- client requests
- conversion optimization
- exit intent popups
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Websites Made Simple
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