🔍Google Rewrites Organic Links to goto Format
Google's New Link Format Is a Game Changer for Scrapers
TL;DR
Google is rewriting organic links to a new goto format, making it harder for scrapers to harvest URLs from search results. This change impacts anyone building search indexes from SERP data.
Google is rewriting organic links to a new goto format, making it harder for scrapers to harvest URLs from search results. This change impacts anyone building search indexes from SERP data, as each result now requires a request back to Google to learn the destination URL. This shift is part of Google's broader push against automated SERP harvesting, especially from AI crawlers and SEO scrapers. As of late August 2026, this new format is showing up consistently across searches when you are logged out or browsing in private mode. The new goto format uses a custom, Google-specific encoding that cannot be decoded offline, and the real URL is only revealed in the Location header on /goto.
Key Points
Google's new goto format uses a custom encoding, making it harder to decode URLs offline.
As of late August 2026, the goto format is consistently showing up in logged-out and private searches.
Autom has updated its Google Search pipeline to resolve goto links and return destination URLs in API responses.
Each result now requires a request back to Google to learn the destination URL, slowing down scraping.
Google's push against automated SERP harvesting is making it harder for AI crawlers and SEO scrapers to operate.
Why It Matters
If you're building a search index from SERP data, Google's new goto format is a big deal. Each result now requires a request back to Google to learn the destination URL, making it slower and noisier. This shift is part of Google's broader push against automated SERP harvesting, especially from AI crawlers and SEO scrapers. Autom's Google Search endpoints will continue to return usable destination URLs without changing the integration.
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