Google

[Spacecadet]

Anyone else noticed how google search result links don't link directly to the page any more?

Instead they go through google
Go to Google
search "contractor uk"

first result link when hovered shows in the status bar as:

http://www.contractoruk.com

when you click it actually takes you to:

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&ved=0CBoQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.contractoruk.com%2F&rct=j&q=contractor+uk&ei=5WP8S7yvNtKJ4gaj8vWBAw&usg=AFQjCNGntA7WI12vSxJbkLXyTxXYy32ibA

which then redirects to

http://www.contractoruk.com

If you now hit the back button you're back on the redirect link which takes you back to contractoruk NOT google!

Is there anyway to turn this tulip off?

[Sockpuppet]

No. Its been like that for ages, how else do you suppose they track what links your clicking.

When I click back I go to Google not CUK.

[ladymuck]

I noticed that too. If you get really clicky with the back button, you can outwit it and get back to Google.

It's damn annoying though.

[NickFitz]

What browser are you using? I can't replicate the back button problem on any of Safari, Opera, Chrome, or Firefox (all on OS X).

A quick analysis shows that the result links are pointing directly to the target site when the search results page initially loads. There is a mousedown event handler on each result link which rewrites the href attribute of the link to be via Google, which as SP points out is a way for them to track which links people seem to think are useful. (They've been doing this for years AFAIK, although it's possible they've modified the way it works recently. It's part of the input to their algorithms for improving the quality of their results.)

As the href has been rewritten when the click happens (when the mouse button is released), the browser goes to the Google URL. This returns a small page containing a bit of script which redirects you to the target page, and also a meta refresh with 0ms delay to do the same thing. One of those will take you to the right place but, on the three browsers I mention, this doesn't seem to result in an entry in the browser history, so the "Back" button works as normal.

If you can, check if the same thing happens with a clean install of the same browser on a different machine. If it doesn't, it suggests that you may have some extension or toolbar installed which is keeping track of your browsing in a way that interferes with the browser history.

FWIW, most browsers will show you a menu containing the window history if you hold the mouse button down on the back button, so that may be a workaround you can use until you identify what's causing the problem.

[Spacecadet]

IE8
(I'll do the Booing and hissing now for you Nick )

Its a clean install, I "don't do" browser addons or tool bars. Only just just started using favourites a few months ago.

Tried it with my Firefox install and the same thing doesn't happen. i.e. I get expected behavior.

Having had a quick bing (you see what I did there?) this afternoon it seems that the google engineers don't like IE8 that much! There are problems with other google products not just search.

[NickFitz]

Google screwed up