Google Search is now rewriting organic result links to use a new redirect format beginning with google.com/goto?url=..., instead of exposing the destination URL directly in the HTML. When users click a search result, Google redirects them to the actual page. The url parameter in this new format uses a proprietary encoding that appears as an opaque reference to Google's index rather than a straightforward URL.

This update has become consistently visible since late August 2026, especially for users who are logged out or browsing in private mode. While it may still be experimental, it is no longer limited to a small subset of search results.

This new format differs from Google's previous redirect wrapper, google.com/url?q=[URL], where the destination URL was readable in the query string. In contrast, the google.com/goto links require a request to Google to obtain the real URL from the HTTP Location header, which cannot be decoded offline.

Google retains copies of the destination URLs on the page to display domain information, favicons, and attribution, but the actual link users follow is now obscured behind the redirect.

This change is significant for anyone attempting to build search indexes by scraping Google's search engine results pages (SERPs) at scale. By replacing plaintext links with redirect wrappers that require additional requests to resolve, Google is making automated scraping slower and more detectable.

This move aligns with Google's broader efforts to combat automated SERP harvesting, particularly from AI crawlers and SEO scrapers that extract large volumes of URLs to create their own indexes. The new approach forces scrapers to send a request for each link to learn its destination, increasing the workload and creating a clear signal of scraping activity.

Combined with previous measures such as removing the ability to request 100 results per page and tightening bot detection systems like BotGuard and SearchGuard, Google is steadily raising the barriers against naive scraping techniques.

The team at Autom.dev first observed these google.com/goto links appearing on a small percentage of SERPs, making it challenging to implement reliable fixes without affecting other users. As of late August 2026, the pattern has become widespread for logged-out and private browsing sessions.

Autom.dev has updated its Google Search API pipeline to handle the new redirect format by reading the Location header without following the redirect and returning the final destination URL in API responses. This ensures that customers can continue to receive usable URLs without changing their integrations.

Google's evolving redirect strategy underscores the company's intent to control access to its search data and limit large-scale automated extraction. For developers and businesses relying on SERP data, adapting to these changes is essential to maintain functionality.

For more information and related updates, Autom.dev provides resources on handling the new redirect format and other recent Google Search changes.