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Google are removing URLs entirely from search results?

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Re: Google are removing URLs entirely from search results?

#61
First of all, I hope this is just an tiny experiment or better a hoax, and won't be widely adopted. Google deserves constant critique, but they also deserve credit as a company that often promotes the open way first (for example, schema.org as a way anyone can describe their information, which can be ready by anyone).

But if it's not an experiment, I'd start putting my energy into moving away from Google. In the AltaVista era, just before Google, there was a company called Real Names, which wanted to bypass intentional DNS and use searches as direct keywords to domains. Since many people use Google to go to everyday sites, just taking the top result each time, this is in effect what Google would be doing with this change, since one would have to actually go to the site to verify it. Which would be great for ad impressions, but terrible for the consumer experience, IMO way too random for Google to seriously consider it. The next step would be to remove URLs from browsers. But that would be quite a change in direction from good intentions.

Re: Google are removing URLs entirely from search results?

#62
URLs are one of the basic building blocks of the WWW. Again Google is abusing it's practical monopoly as the gateway to the WWW to consolidate the lock-in. Again, as always, the tech aware crowd will make a huge noise, perhaps delay the inevitable, but sooner or later this WILL be implemented all across Google (right now seems specific to Google UK), and again, as always, the billions of ordinary Internet users are going to be slightly surprised, but shrug and get used to the change and move on. And that will help consolidate the change and the tech aware crowd will either grudgingly follow or just stay holed up elsewhere and in either case Google doesn't care.

This is just another manifestation of the corporate/state control and Balkanisation of the Internet that has slowly been taking place. The Internet will pretty soon be entirely subsumed into various the structure of various countries and corporations and there'll be no such thing as the "free web", at least for most users not willing to go through several hoops.

Re: Google are removing URLs entirely from search results?

#63
post #13

They also do open most links in their own google.com wrapper. Time to break them up

Which is extremely annoying when it’s a pdf or other document that’s set to immediately download; it’s rather tricky to get the actual URL if you want to share it as it won’t ever show up in the address bar.

You can usually right-click the file in the downloads panel of the browser and copy its url.

Re: Google are removing URLs entirely from search results?

#65

It's still regular for me but if true this will probably be the last straw for me. It's already absolutely impossible to send someone a link to a pdf you've found through google, this would make it impossible to send any link. That bloody wrapper is also a fine piece of shit. Search engines should link to content, not appropriate that content, hide who supplies it or mess with the links.

I was trying to find the URL of Crate and Barrel Canada yesterday on Mobile on Google and I found myself dropped into some google clickbait hell...

I ended up in their google maps product on mobile and was clicking around between their reviews, their location on google maps, the opinions of other google users about what they thought crate and barrel was good at, pictures of crate and barrel stores, etc...

But I could not find their websites URL... not in what I would consider a reasonable amount of time at least.

Obviously I found it in the end.

But I couldn't help but think that Google really doesn't want me even going to the actual URL.

They want me to call and drive to the store using their phone and their google maps product, and leave a review on their platform, growing their company's value for them.

Crate and barrel and my original intentions be damned.

Re: Google are removing URLs entirely from search results?

#66

Google run hundreds of A/B tests. The chances of this ever being rolled more widely out are slim to none. Terribly misleading headline.

This was sent to production. Obviously someone thinks about deploying this change. This is precisely the time for pushback - before Google does this - to tell Google their A/B result is a very big fail.

Also, to get some people to try alternatives, because even if this isn't deployed, Google's anti-user direction seems clear enough.

Re: Google are removing URLs entirely from search results?

#67

They also do open most links in their own google.com wrapper. Time to break them up

I think the reason why they did that originally was so HTTP websites would get referrer information from Google search results (HTTPS). Referrer data is dropped when going from HTTPS to HTTP. When Google first started using HTTPS, most of the web was unencrypted, and they wouldn't be able to track the referrer in Google Analytics unless they added a redirector to search results.

Re: Google are removing URLs entirely from search results?

#69

Google run hundreds of A/B tests. The chances of this ever being rolled more widely out are slim to none. Terribly misleading headline.

I saw this a couple of weeks ago. I think chances are high that it is being pushed into product if it has not happened yet.
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