Google Search Click Tracking Changed

I reported Google appears to be testing a new click tracking method in the search results. In the past, Google selectively tracked clicks by appending tracking URLs to the search results. Now, it appears that those tracking URLs are done through JavaScript and are virtually invisible to the end user. Here is a sample of […]

Chat with SearchBot

I reported Google appears to be testing a new click tracking method in the search results. In the past, Google selectively tracked clicks by appending tracking URLs to the search results. Now, it appears that those tracking URLs are done through JavaScript and are virtually invisible to the end user.

Here is a sample of the code in the search results to track the clicks:

<a href=”https://www.google.com/” class=l onmousedown=”return rwt(this,”,”,’res’,’4′,
‘AFQjCNG5-9Jej-ukVeakTgwonqt2narbYg’,’&sig2=4Lwo00y104At7P9SCT7uXA’)”>

I do not know why this was changed or if there is any significance to it. There is discussion around the change at WebmasterWorld Forums now.


About the author

Barry Schwartz
Staff
Barry Schwartz is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry can be followed on Twitter here.

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