48 ms·

So why are we angry about that ? I mean the end result for the users are exactly the same, it matters only for bots. Google have such a (justified) bad reputat

So why are we angry about that ? I mean the end result for the users are exactly the same, it matters only for bots. Google have such a (justified) bad reputation that whatever they do, people assume it’s entishification. I don’t believed it is on that matter.

orbital-decay 15d ago
Yeah. I might be wrong but I think they only served direct links for a relatively short time in their history, early on in the 90's and in recent years with ping, which they used to track clicks anyway. At least half of their history they used either the 302 redirects or onmousedown link rewriting (which was terrible). And I'm not even starting on AMP.
deleted 15d ago
[deleted]
jolmg 15d ago
Privacy-wise, it enables them to track the result you click on. Also, though more niche, it would make archived search result pages (e.g. on the Wayback Machine) less useful.
- maxchehab 15d ago
  I think they always knew what link you clicked on (when most of the web has a ga4 tag on the other side of the link)
  - jolmg 15d ago
    You can block Google Analytics with your browser. You can't block needing to ask Google for the URL of the result you want to visit.
    - nprateem 15d ago
      If you're that concerned, use another search engine
      - ranger_danger 15d ago
        I have to anyway because google always gives me endless captchas, as my ISP frequently rotates IPs with people who can't behave.
        mitxela 15d ago
        That's just Google not caring about your ISP because you live in the global south. Everyone gets this. US citizens get the exact same problem but Google whitelists their networks.
        ranger_danger 15d ago
        > because you live in the global south I don't, but thanks for confidently assuming.
        mitxela 14d ago
        At least Google thinks you do. And Google kind of has the power to decide where the global south is, at least as far as it pertains to captchas.
        nonamesleft 14d ago
        Not just global south, happened all the time to me after first search page of the day until i stopped using them, northern eu.
      - deleted 14d ago
        [deleted]
      - jolmg 14d ago
        My responding to comments doesn't mean I use them.
nicbou 15d ago
It's rather frustrating that after they crawled my website to use for their AI without my consent, and using that AI to slowly strangle my traffic, they're not happy that _other people_ are doing the same to them.
- mitxela 15d ago
  This is what capitalism's all about. Take as much as possible and give as little as possible if you want to win. Ideally, give negative amounts.
  - nickff 15d ago
    >”This is what capitalism's all about. Take as much as possible and give as little as possible if you want to win. Ideally, give negative amounts.” Your description is vague enough to encompass every system that I’m aware of, from feudalism, through to mercantilism, communism, and capitalism. It may best fit communism and feudalism, both of which are most notable for fostering negative-value-added firms.
    - mitxela 15d ago
      I do not understand the type of psychosis which causes people to say that capitalism is communism.
      - nicbou 15d ago
        You do not understand the comment you're replying to either
      - stavros 15d ago
        But if someone says "dogs have four legs, and cats have four legs", they aren't saying that dogs are cats.
  - 9865322689965 14d ago
    [dead]
LeoPanthera 15d ago
It breaks the social contract of the web. My user agent should be able to tell me where a hyperlink goes without first clicking on it, and perhaps act differently based on that information. Now, all Google search results appear to go back to Google.
- fc417fc802 15d ago
  TBF this is more a browser problem than a website problem to my mind. Redirects shouldn't be handled in such a cavalier manner. I should be able to configure the browser to stop and confirm the destination any time the domain changes without direct user interaction.
knorker 15d ago
Well, for one it breaks right click and copy link location.
zelphirkalt 15d ago
In this case they assume correctly that it is enshitification. A search engine, that doesn't understand what hypertext and the web are supposed to be is shit. There are no good reasons to not have proper links. Whoever creates such websites is having other motives or doesn't know good web development. In the case of Google employees I have to assume the former. They are not acting in the best interest of the users, and therefore enshitify Google search. Well, I hope ultimately this will lead to even more user loss for them. Fortunately, I myself don't have to suffer due to it, because I degooglified my life.
McDyver 15d ago
It's not exactly the same: when in hover over a link, I want to know where it's taking me. I want to know if the URL is pointing to a safe domain. Google being the cesspool it is, can serve whichever (ad laden) domain that fits their own interests the best. This is yet another move to remove power from the users.
bramhaag 15d ago
Aside from the privacy concerns and inconveniences this brings to Google users, it matters for users (of services) that rely on SerpApi too. Kagi for example has started showing these goto URLs in search results.
- brainwad 15d ago
  Well, that's rather the point, right? Kagi and other micro search engines sell a product that just resells Google search results while telling people it's a premium product better than Google. Obviously Google isn't pleased about that.
FerretFred 15d ago
Personally, I put a lot of effort into writing my blog posts, some of which have been really well viewed by humans. While mine is effectively a "hobbyist" site, it's nice when readers look at other blog posts as a result of reading the original one. Google's approach ensures that readers get a very narrow view of my content, so everybody expect Google loses out.
- aucisson_masque 13d ago
  I really don’t understand why. Users still have your articles full url in their browser when they read it.
orlp 15d ago
1. It adds extra latency due to an extra hop. 2. It is non-bypassable tracking of every single click. 3. It does not allow you to inspect the URL to see where it goes to before visiting. 4. It breaks the feedback signal of extensions which redirect sites. E.g. Fandom wikis are shit so I have them redirected to equivalent much better wikis like. But now any such redirection has to be done post-click tracking meaning Google still believes I want to see the Fandom site. 5. It breaks extensions which hide certain shit search results based on URL.
tyingq 15d ago
Aside from the list of current concerns that others have covered well...Google is very good at "boiling frogs". That is, rolling out unpopular things in phases. This could be, for example, step one in the return of AMP, but with a new twist. Where google conveniently returns the content of your website, without directly sending the user to your website. With whatever changes it chooses to make.
yreg 14d ago
For me it's annoying that I cannot right-click the link and copy the actual target. They are breaking the web.

orbital-decay 15d ago

Yeah. I might be wrong but I think they only served direct links for a relatively short time in their history, early on in the 90's and in recent years with ping, which they used to track clicks anyway. At least half of their history they used either the 302 redirects or onmousedown link rewriting (which was terrible). And I'm not even starting on AMP.

deleted 15d ago

[deleted]

jolmg 15d ago

Privacy-wise, it enables them to track the result you click on. Also, though more niche, it would make archived search result pages (e.g. on the Wayback Machine) less useful.

maxchehab 15d ago
I think they always knew what link you clicked on (when most of the web has a ga4 tag on the other side of the link)
- jolmg 15d ago
  You can block Google Analytics with your browser. You can't block needing to ask Google for the URL of the result you want to visit.
  - nprateem 15d ago
    If you're that concerned, use another search engine
    - ranger_danger 15d ago
      I have to anyway because google always gives me endless captchas, as my ISP frequently rotates IPs with people who can't behave.
      - mitxela 15d ago
        That's just Google not caring about your ISP because you live in the global south. Everyone gets this. US citizens get the exact same problem but Google whitelists their networks.
        ranger_danger 15d ago
        > because you live in the global south I don't, but thanks for confidently assuming.
        mitxela 14d ago
        At least Google thinks you do. And Google kind of has the power to decide where the global south is, at least as far as it pertains to captchas.
        nonamesleft 14d ago
        Not just global south, happened all the time to me after first search page of the day until i stopped using them, northern eu.
    - deleted 14d ago
      [deleted]
    - jolmg 14d ago
      My responding to comments doesn't mean I use them.

nicbou 15d ago

It's rather frustrating that after they crawled my website to use for their AI without my consent, and using that AI to slowly strangle my traffic, they're not happy that _other people_ are doing the same to them.

mitxela 15d ago
This is what capitalism's all about. Take as much as possible and give as little as possible if you want to win. Ideally, give negative amounts.
- nickff 15d ago
  >”This is what capitalism's all about. Take as much as possible and give as little as possible if you want to win. Ideally, give negative amounts.” Your description is vague enough to encompass every system that I’m aware of, from feudalism, through to mercantilism, communism, and capitalism. It may best fit communism and feudalism, both of which are most notable for fostering negative-value-added firms.
  - mitxela 15d ago
    I do not understand the type of psychosis which causes people to say that capitalism is communism.
    - nicbou 15d ago
      You do not understand the comment you're replying to either
    - stavros 15d ago
      But if someone says "dogs have four legs, and cats have four legs", they aren't saying that dogs are cats.
- 9865322689965 14d ago
  [dead]

LeoPanthera 15d ago

It breaks the social contract of the web. My user agent should be able to tell me where a hyperlink goes without first clicking on it, and perhaps act differently based on that information. Now, all Google search results appear to go back to Google.

fc417fc802 15d ago
TBF this is more a browser problem than a website problem to my mind. Redirects shouldn't be handled in such a cavalier manner. I should be able to configure the browser to stop and confirm the destination any time the domain changes without direct user interaction.

knorker 15d ago

Well, for one it breaks right click and copy link location.

zelphirkalt 15d ago

In this case they assume correctly that it is enshitification. A search engine, that doesn't understand what hypertext and the web are supposed to be is shit. There are no good reasons to not have proper links. Whoever creates such websites is having other motives or doesn't know good web development. In the case of Google employees I have to assume the former. They are not acting in the best interest of the users, and therefore enshitify Google search. Well, I hope ultimately this will lead to even more user loss for them. Fortunately, I myself don't have to suffer due to it, because I degooglified my life.

McDyver 15d ago

It's not exactly the same: when in hover over a link, I want to know where it's taking me. I want to know if the URL is pointing to a safe domain. Google being the cesspool it is, can serve whichever (ad laden) domain that fits their own interests the best. This is yet another move to remove power from the users.

bramhaag 15d ago

Aside from the privacy concerns and inconveniences this brings to Google users, it matters for users (of services) that rely on SerpApi too. Kagi for example has started showing these goto URLs in search results.

brainwad 15d ago
Well, that's rather the point, right? Kagi and other micro search engines sell a product that just resells Google search results while telling people it's a premium product better than Google. Obviously Google isn't pleased about that.

FerretFred 15d ago

Personally, I put a lot of effort into writing my blog posts, some of which have been really well viewed by humans. While mine is effectively a "hobbyist" site, it's nice when readers look at other blog posts as a result of reading the original one. Google's approach ensures that readers get a very narrow view of my content, so everybody expect Google loses out.

aucisson_masque 13d ago
I really don’t understand why. Users still have your articles full url in their browser when they read it.

orlp 15d ago

1. It adds extra latency due to an extra hop. 2. It is non-bypassable tracking of every single click. 3. It does not allow you to inspect the URL to see where it goes to before visiting. 4. It breaks the feedback signal of extensions which redirect sites. E.g. Fandom wikis are shit so I have them redirected to equivalent much better wikis like. But now any such redirection has to be done post-click tracking meaning Google still believes I want to see the Fandom site. 5. It breaks extensions which hide certain shit search results based on URL.

tyingq 15d ago

Aside from the list of current concerns that others have covered well...Google is very good at "boiling frogs". That is, rolling out unpopular things in phases. This could be, for example, step one in the return of AMP, but with a new twist. Where google conveniently returns the content of your website, without directly sending the user to your website. With whatever changes it chooses to make.

yreg 14d ago

For me it's annoying that I cannot right-click the link and copy the actual target. They are breaking the web.