CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptreferrer
Michi20
Michi20

Reputation: 33

How does Google set the HTTP Referrer when someone clicks on a search result link?

Google sets a HTTP Referrer when someone clicks on a search result link. This referrer is different to the address which is shown in the URL address bar (e.g. it contains the GET parameter cd which indicates the search result position of the clicked link).

It seems that this is done with javascript. I would like to do something similar on my website, so I would be interested to know how exactly this "referrer manipulation" can be done with javascript.

Any ideas?

Upvotes: 3

Views: 2915

Answers (2)

Emmanuel Roy
Emmanuel Roy

Reputation: 1

The explication is simple, but the code in javascript you gave, does the opposite of the needed for a php analytics utils.

It redirect and erase the referer that google simply give.

I think that developper who work with statitics commands need a javascript function who do history.get(-2); to know which keywords where employed on the search.

But accordless with mdn web docs, it doesn't exists ...

Why Google mask the keywords ? ... I need it to understand real placement and for white hat SEO...

Upvotes: 0

Piskvor left the building
Piskvor left the building

Reputation: 92792

Google redirects you through its own click-proxy when you click on its result links - the address of the proxy is what you see in Referer.

Example: I went to http://www.google.cz and searched for 'How does Google set the HTTP Referrer when someone clicks on a search result link?'. That resulted in this request:

GET http://www.google.cz/search?hl=cs&source=hp&biw=1276&bih=866&q=How+does+Google+set+the+HTTP+Referrer+when+someone+clicks+on+a+search+result+link%3F&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=b29a84a7dd59af16 HTTP/1.1
Referer: http://www.google.cz/

From there, I clicked the first result link: How does Google set the HTTP Referrer when someone clicks on a search result link? That click was captured by a JS event and rerouted to this redirector:

GET http://www.google.cz/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBoQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fstackoverflow.com%2Fquestions%2F4402502%2Fhow-does-google-set-the-http-referrer-when-someone-clicks-on-a-search-result-link&rct=j&q=How%20does%20Google%20set%20the%20HTTP%20Referrer%20when%20someone%20clicks%20on%20a%20search%20result%20link%3F&ei=WTgBTeOXLsHB8QPO44ybCA&usg=AFQjCNE22KabWH5TnkK1sRLGmqWQ4EvwxQ HTTP/1.1
Referer: http://www.google.cz/search?hl=cs&source=hp&biw=1276&bih=866&q=How+does+Google+set+the+HTTP+Referrer+when+someone+clicks+on+a+search+result+link%3F&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=b29a84a7dd59af16

containing this redirect snippet:

<body><a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4402502/how-does-google-set-the-http-referrer-when-someone-clicks-on-a-search-result-link" id=link target=_parent></body><script>var a=parent,b=parent.google,c=location;if(a!=window&&b){if(b.r){b.r=0;document.getElementById("link").click();}}else{document.getElementById("link").click();};</script><noscript><META http-equiv="refresh" content="0;URL='https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4402502/how-does-google-set-the-http-referrer-when-someone-clicks-on-a-search-result-link'"></noscript>

which finally sent me to the real URL:

GET https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4402502/how-does-google-set-the-http-referrer-when-someone-clicks-on-a-search-result-link HTTP/1.1
Referer: http://www.google.cz/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBoQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fstackoverflow.com%2Fquestions%2F4402502%2Fhow-does-google-set-the-http-referrer-when-someone-clicks-on-a-search-result-link&rct=j&q=How%20does%20Google%20set%20the%20HTTP%20Referrer%20when%20someone%20clicks%20on%20a%20search%20result%20link%3F&ei=WTgBTeOXLsHB8QPO44ybCA&usg=AFQjCNE22KabWH5TnkK1sRLGmqWQ4EvwxQ

So, you're correct - most of the heavy lifting here is done through JavaScript, although some server-side code is also involved.

Upvotes: 5

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