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Recent observations indicate that Google has begun appending tracking URLs to its search results. Instead of directing users straight to a website, clicking on a search link now leads through a Google redirect URL, specifically a google.com/goto link that forwards visitors to the actual destination URL listed in the search results.
This change can impact your analytics and third-party tracking tools. Brodie Clark from SERPAlerts was among the first to identify this pattern and shared findings on social media. Several other users reported noticing similar behavior, although some have yet to replicate it themselves.
When examining these redirected links, it’s apparent that the URLs are wrapped in a pattern resembling google.com/goto, often containing encoded versions of the destination URL. Another tool, Ahrefs, has started to detect and highlight this URL structure as well.
There’s speculation about whether this is merely a test or if Google is gradually implementing this click-tracking method across all search results. If this behavior is adopted widely, it could influence how marketers and analysts track traffic from search engine results pages (SERPs).
The first publicly documented mention of this behavior traces back to late June, when a user highlighted that Google appears to be rewriting search result links to include a base64-like encoding within the URL, which then redirects users seamlessly to the original destination. Some experts suggest that this is a new variation of existing analytics redirection methods used when JavaScript is disabled, or as part of Google’s efforts to combat AI and SEO scraping.
So far, only a handful of individuals have reported seeing this pattern, and it hasn’t been universally confirmed from multiple accounts. Continued monitoring is necessary to determine whether this is an isolated experiment or a broader rollout.
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