google search result links are links to google redirects, not to the results
For years, google search results have consisted of links not to the result pages, but to google-based redirects.
This seems like a strange choice by google. They break all kinds of things, including the user getting the URL of a linked page from their browser. I want to do this all the time. One workaround is to follow the link, and then copy it from the address bar instead.
If they put the correct URL for the link target, and added a bit of javascript to notify them for tracking when followed, this would work in over 99% of cases. What extra are they gaining, that justifies breaking the copy-link-location feature, that is a basic way of how the web works (or could work)?
Instead, they seem to have added javascript to incorrectly and deceptively display the right URL in the user's status bar, despite the real link pointing at google's own servers.
In this example, the status bar is spoofed to say something under www.heathrowmedical.com, but the real target of the link is https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwj7v5yooMX0AhXn_7sIHVJ4DeQQFnoECAYQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.heathrowmedical.com%2Fcovid-19-testing%2F&usg=AOvVaw15oqm7QsP4u3L2j8ZGDc_L :
but in the following one, a different entry on the same results page, the status bar is left to display the google-hosted track-and-redirect:
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