Technology
Google rewrites search result links to conceal direct web addresses, report says
Hacker News reports that Google Search now masks destination web addresses in organic results with redirect links.
The short version
- Google Search has started replacing organic result destinations with custom redirect links that obscure original target addresses.[Hacker News]
- The change primarily affects private browsing and logged-out sessions, where it has appeared consistently since late August 2026.[Hacker News]
- The modification is viewed as an effort to counter automated scraping and URL harvesting by AI crawlers and SEO tools.[Hacker News]
Key facts
- Google Search has begun substituting organic result destinations with a google.com/goto redirect format instead of exposing direct links in the page HTML.[Hacker News]
- The redirect URL parameter utilizes a proprietary, Google-specific encoding scheme.[Hacker News]
- The new link behavior has been consistently observed since late August 2026 for logged-out queries and private browsing sessions.[Hacker News]
- The adjustment is viewed as an effort by Google to curb automated harvesting of search result pages by SEO scrapers and AI bots.[Hacker News]
What remains uncertain
- It is not clear whether Google plans to roll out this redirect format permanently or universally across all user accounts and sessions.[Hacker News]
Sources
Outlet counts describe coverage, not independent confirmation. Reports may share a wire service or original source.