gDirectLinks cleans Google search links

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gDirectLinks cleans Google search links

17 May 2012 1,709 views 5 Comments

get clean URLs in your Google search results with gDirectLinks

Google Search is useful and many of us it dozens of times a day. Whereas search results are generally spot on, clicking or copying one of those links doesn’t get you the true URL, but rather an indirect one generated by JavaScript, ever a source security issues, that allows searchzilla to track and monetize you.

Honestly, I don’t begrudge Google the money it makes because they provide a valuable service. The irritating part for me is when I right-click and try to copy a link only to get a steaming pile of this:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CEkQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffairerplatform.com%2F&ei=ULa1T5eFPPD06AGFkY2FCw&usg=AFQjCNHT2E_nqGQ3nR-X49iuCE3EQMX17g&sig2=JxaMW2ccPBiFL-D_awNL0w

If you had searched Google for “Fairer Platform” and then clicked or copied the link for this site (http://fairer platform.com), the above is an example of the indirect links Google generates to track and monetize search results.

Whether you’d rather that Google didn’t track your clicks or are just looking for clean links, Canisbos gDirectLinks Safari Extension ensures that your Google Search results deliver true URLs and that Safari’s History records just the real links.

What’s your favorite Safari Extension? Share it and a link in the comments below…

5 Comments »

Joseph Bayly said:

YES! Thank you for passing this on. I can’t stand when I view my browsing history after doing research on Google, and all I see is a bunch of meaningless Google links, and can’t find the page I want to go back to.

# 18 May 2012 at 10:17 pm

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# 22 May 2012 at 3:31 pm

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# 23 May 2012 at 11:45 am

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# 24 May 2012 at 10:05 pm

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# 12 June 2012 at 7:39 pm