this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2026

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349

Google has started encrypting its search results' URLs with "goto?=" links for logged out sessions and/or scrapers ( 28 August, 2026 ) (suganthan.com)

submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by onionsinmypores@sh.itjust.works to c/technology@lemmy.world

77 comments fedilink hide all child comments

About a week or two ago, I started noticing that I could no longer copy the clean links for search result hits on Google. I thought it was maybe some quirk of a browser I was using, but today when trying to copy a link to a Youtube video, I realized it was actually rolled out globally (it seems).

Basically instead of getting a
https://youtube/. com/watch?v=-ed6UeDp1ek link now through google, (spaced out link to avoid AutoMod) you will get
https://www.google.com/goto?url=CAES<rest-of-encrypted-blob-containing--versionByte-keyID-cipherText>

The article describes the change in technical detail, and mentions a fix, but the author has kept it private for now so Google doesn't patch it up (like they probably will or have for this workaround relying on the "Translate Page" feature with a different Browser Language selection [Twitter Link, Aug 27]).

Why it will probably be patched:

Surprised there's no post about it here already.
Only Hackernews article I could find (4 days ago):
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49506338

Edit: It seems to matter a lot whether your network is deemed "spammy" or problematic by Google for the encrypted URLs to kick in, even if you're logged out. Funnily enough my google searches went back to normal a few hours after I posted this. So a logged out session might get the regular, unencrypted links if your IP network has a good rating on Google's end. Mine often runs into captchas and the like, so it makes sense why I'd be targeted by this new change.
Then again, I just tested on my mobile cellular on a logged out search, and I still have the goto's. Can't really control that.

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[–] clee89@lemmy.world 1 points 16 hours ago

google result links have been getting worse for clean copying forever, but this goto stuff is especially annoying. i usually strip params with ublock/clearurls, and if i’m sharing a link where i don’t want the shortener tracking clicks either i use https://cryptly.link/0ADWMpV2Oc1D since it encrypts the destination and doesn’t do free-tier analytics.

[–] clee89@lemmy.world 1 points 20 hours ago

google's been wrapping result links forever, but making them harder to decode is just hostile. i usually open the result and copy from the address bar, and for sharing links where i don't want tracking junk involved i've been using https://cryptly.link/QNZvduUEaw91 since it's encrypted and doesn't do click tracking.

[–] chunes@lemmy.world 67 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

So google has no problems unleashing their bots on others but they don't want to get scraped themselves?

That's the sort of shit that should get your company disbanded in any functioning civilization.

[–] MadBits 14 points 3 days ago (1 children)

That's why everyone should try and avoid google and use some alternatives.

[–] BilSabab@lemmy.world 10 points 3 days ago (2 children)

DuckDuck is literally right here.

[–] MadBits 9 points 3 days ago

Qwant, SwissCow, DuckDuckGo and many others.

[–] Randelung@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago (2 children)

And it'll even sometimes show relevant results!

Seriously though, noai.ddg is my default, but I still have to switch to google way too often.

[–] tynansdtm@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I try to use ddg. Their bangs are really convenient though so it's a great reason to keep it as your default. Just add !g somewhere in your search and they'll redirect you to a Google search for the same thing. Or !w for Wikipedia, or, holy shit, 13,564 others. An image lifted from the link in my post containing thirteen of the commonly used bangs. Amazon, IMDB, Steam, Netflix, and many others.

[–] Randelung@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

oh cool, i didn't know about those!

[–] baguettefish@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 2 days ago

i haven't had to switch to google in years. when I can't find something it's usually because I am looking for something from over a decade ago that nothing can find. I guess you have to search differently with alternative search engines, and I still have that proficiency.

[–] BilSabab@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago

and you guessed it - functioning. that's the problem.

[–] stevles@aussie.zone 139 points 3 days ago (8 children)

Duck is as good as Google was before they got gimped by laws and insane levels of advertising. Have been using it religiously for months, no issues.

[–] lepinkainen@lemmy.world 47 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Kagi user for over two years now, can recommend if you’re not against paying for quality search.

[–] Marthirial@lemmy.world 20 points 3 days ago

The future of search engines is in the settings. Allowing you to control how you search is the only weapon against the direction Google imagine we all should find stuff online.

Kagi is the only search engine who has embraced this and they get my money for it.

[–] defaultusername@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 3 days ago

I'm against paying for search because I don't want my search history to be directly tied to my real name via my payment method. I don't care what their privacy policy says.

[–] _haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works 12 points 3 days ago

Startpage is another alternative if you use more than the free searches Kagi gives you. I usually reserve my Kagi searches for when other engines like Startpage, Qwant, DDG, etc. have failed me.

[–] MadBits 5 points 3 days ago

Kagi is really good. I use Qwant because its free and somewhat close, but Kagi was really really good.

[–] Bumrocky@lemmy.world 39 points 3 days ago (1 children)

This. Can't tell you the last time I used Google directly.

[–] The_v@lemmy.world 14 points 3 days ago

A few days ago when I was converting an old windows desktop to Linux I hit Google on accident (Firefox default).

On the first page I got 2 traditional search results. They were links to AI slop sites. The entire rest of the page was full of useless crap.

[–] refreeze@lemmy.world 24 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Maybe its just me, but I find I get way more useless seo blog spam results using DuckDuckGo.

[–] vestigeofgreen@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 3 days ago (9 children)

DDG uses Bing's index. I assume Bing doesn't nerf AI in rankings as I get so many slop AI SEO sites that I don't get on an equivalent Google search. I used DDG itself before like 2024, but now I reflexively add !g if I don't think !w will work.

[–] The_v@lemmy.world 12 points 3 days ago

DDG NoAI site seems to help.

[–] Squizzy@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago

Ddg used to give non bubble results, it was their thing. Now its sucks and is location based even when disabled. DDG went to the dogs years ago.

Qwant

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[–] soratoyuki@piefed.zip 10 points 3 days ago

Same. I've been using DDG as my default for years, but it's main strength for me is using !g to redo the search after not finding anything good the first time.

[–] GreyEyedGhost@piefed.ca 12 points 3 days ago

I've been using duck for at least 3 years, probably closer to 6 or 7. When I first used it, its searches were okay, but if I couldn't find what I was looking for a quick trip to Google would fix that. I felt like it improved slightly over some time, but also Google got a lot worse. Now with the AI proliferation, I never bother going to Google, and duck is still better than it was a year or two ago. Their AI has about a 20 or 30% success rate for me, but I just use it as a top search if I use it at all. I would love it if the results didn't change when I run the same search 2 minutes apart, though.

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 6 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Ddg always does a "word1 OR word2 OR word3" search for me, which is useless half of the time and always annoying. Did i set a wrong option or something?

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[–] raina@sopuli.xyz 26 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Just switch. To anything, really.

[–] MadBits 7 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Qwant user here for almost 2 years. (Previously used swisscow for 1 year)

[–] raina@sopuli.xyz 2 points 2 days ago

I must be coming close to ten years of using DuckDuckGo and barely ever even needing the ! g bang. It might not be the galaxy brain option, and I do keep looking around, but the classic UX and the AI controls certainly improve navigating this hellscape.

[–] Seimhe@lemmy.world 32 points 3 days ago (9 children)

Surprised nobody has mentioned Ecosia yet. Web searches there are responsible for planting 250,000,000 trees. I can’t think of a better justification for using a search engine.

[–] Danitos@reddthat.com 19 points 3 days ago

Just a heads up, Ecosia relies on you clicking on Microsoft and Google provided ads for its revenue.

From there FAQ:

Do we plant trees if we don’t click on ads?

Like other search engines, we make money when people click on the ads shown in our search results. [...]

How does Ecosia compare to other search engines?

[...] We provide industry standard search results together with our partners Google and Bing. [...]

[–] onionsinmypores@sh.itjust.works 17 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I just tried Ecosia again after a long while (I last tried it around sometime in early 2020/21) and it seems a lot nicer and better than before. I'll use it for a little bit then :$

[–] Seimhe@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago

Good on you for trying

[–] bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I love ecosia.

STOP USING GOOGLE PRODUCT A FFS THEY ARE SHIT.

[–] village604@adultswim.fan 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

They use Bing and google on the back end.

[–] bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works 9 points 3 days ago

Sure, a lot of other search engines do. I believe ecosia is the one building their own index though.

Kagi ia my favorite. Finds what I actually need like its 08 again.

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[–] baguettefish@discuss.tchncs.de 10 points 2 days ago

an underrated feature in duckduckgo is easily toggling between international search results and local (my country) search results. both are things I want often, but I much more rarely want to select any other country, so it makes sense for the toggle to work the way it does. also noai duckduckgo is a blessing.

[–] cx40@piefed.ca 17 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I got this too a few weeks ago and couldn't find any information on how to convert the address back to normal. I guess it makes sense if most people don't get those results. My fix was to just use a different search engine.

fyi, I got it while I was logged in.

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[–] axx@slrpnk.net 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Log in and your results are still clean links, so this has spread through scraper people and nobody else.

Nobody else? Screw you, corporate fanboy.

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[–] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 12 points 3 days ago

You’ve probably not seen it. It only happens when you’re logged out.

Heh, I haven't seen it because I don't use google.

[–] kuiskaaja@lemmy.ml 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

laughs in Qwant

[–] onionsinmypores@sh.itjust.works 7 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (5 children)

I wasn't aware of Qwant. It seems to build its own index instead of relying on other providers (great), and has proper backing to be a viable competitor in something so big (the French government seems to endorse it; along with institutional use in EU parliament?).
I just tested it and unfortunately got a 403 however (FORBIDDEN). Though I was behind an endpoint of a very popular VPN for some testing, that sucks regardless.

Actually, before I could post this, I tried the search refresh and it worked somehow.
To test again I switched to another server of the same VPN provider (same selected country) and tried searching. Same error, which didn't go away after doing the refresh. So they might have some sort of spam prevention measure which eases itself automatically, but I feel like it could definitely be implemented better if that's the case.

Edit: Yep, if you sit on that 403 page for 5-6 minutes without doing anything and then hit the relaunch your search button, things work as intended afterwards.

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[–] phenomdeez@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Just put "Tablet" in your user agent, no Goto

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