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Notes on "Now / After" screen: 1. What they don't mention is that first results are usually ads, usually to competition. If you really want to be the first resu

Notes on "Now / After" screen: 1. What they don't mention is that first results are usually ads, usually to competition. If you really want to be the first result then your business name is searched, you must pay for an ad too. Just tested this. 2. Hovering over an ad link on Chrome, it shows in bottom bar the link as going to brand.com . How can this be done, it's just an <a href="..."> ? Inspecting or right-click shows the true link to www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk...

authed 5y ago
> Hovering over an ad link on Chrome, it shows in bottom bar the link as going to brand.com . How can this be done, it's just an <a href="..."> ? Inspecting or right-click shows the true link to www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk... Google has been doing this since forever (for any search results too)... They update the link target on-click using javascript to be able to track everything you click on.
- mariushn 5y ago
  Thanks for clarification.
  - authed 5y ago
    no problem... I always hated this about Google... feels deceptive... I wish that it was not even possible to change the destination of a link when you click on it (most people probably don't even notice it).
hansel_der 5y ago
on 2: afaik this rewrite of the link target is done throu javascript. it's despicable but apparently the only way for google to count the click.
contravariant 5y ago
Am I weird for preferring the "After" screen? It's still got the most relevant result on the top but manages to fit in two other possibly relevant results as well.