In February, many people noticed that Google tested a new interface for search results. The test didn’t include any new feature and Google even loaded the standard search results page to display the results. An unfortunate side-effect of the new format was that Google didn’t load a new page to display the results and browsers didn’t send proper referrals when clicking on search results.

Starting this week, you may start seeing a new referring URL format for visitors coming from Google search result pages. Up to now, the usual referrer for clicks on search results for the term “flowers”, for example, would be something like this:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=flowers&btnG=Google+Search

Now you will start seeing some referrer strings that look like this:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=7&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.example.com%2Fmypage.htm&ei=0SjdSa-1N5O8M_qW8dQN&rct=j&q=flowers&usg=AFQjCNHJXSUh7Vw7oubPaO3tZOzz-F-u_w&sig2=X8uCFh6IoPtnwmvGMULQfw

“Google is likely making this change to better track search actions and shield URL parameters from sites downstream”, but I think this is a solution for the lack of referral information in a future Ajax interface.

Google is already using gateway URLs for users that are logged in: just copy the address of a Google search result and you’ll notice that it’s just a redirect which sends Google some details about your actions.