DuckDuckGo also tracks what links you click on. Try it: when you click on a link you'll see an immediate ping to https://improving.duckduckgo.com/t/...
(Disclosure: I work for Google, speaking only for myself)
I don't think most folks would have a problem with Google doing it the same way - it makes sense that l you'd want to know what search results were clicked on.
The problem is Google has implemented the tracking in such a way that it's hostile to users, preventing them from copying the target link. There are various ways that Google could allow copying the link whole also enabling tracking if it's explicitly clicked, but Google chose an anti-user option because it almost guarantees people click the link.
> There are various ways that Google could allow copying the link whole also enabling tracking if it's explicitly clicked, but Google chose an anti-user option because it almost guarantees people click the link.
On browsers that support it (all modern browsers except Firefox) it uses <a href=... ping=...> which is exactly what you're looking for.
Thanks, I didn't know about this. It's blocked by my ad blocker but I just whitelisted it.
I stopped using Hangouts a long time ago because every link that was sent was wrapped in a redirect through Google. Sometimes that tracking service would be slow and I'd have to copy the links manually. Really infuriating.
Anyways, there is a big difference here. If I copy a link from Google I get [1] and if I copy a link from DDG I get [2].
(Disclosure: I work for Google, speaking only for myself)