Google using tracking URLs again

[moltar]

I am not sure if this is big news, or if this has been happening for a while now. But I am sure I did not see this yesterday.

I know that they do it randomly to different users, but I haven't seen this happen to me in a very long time.

The URLs look like this:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&start=1&q=http://www.example.com/&e=10129

Notice that

e=10129

is added by Google, not the websites from SERPs. That number is the same for every site in the SERPs. The number also does not seem to change from query to query - same one every time. It's probably attached to my machine.

start=1

changes according to site's position in SERPs.

[Brett_Tabke]

same number used in the js counter (about 2 years running now...). I don't know why they would put it in the raw href now though?

[moltar]

You saying that e=10129 is the same for everyone? What's the point of it then?

[Brett_Tabke]

No - it changes.

[ciml]

I get the impression that tracking URLs have been used more often recently. The assumption is that Google track random users as part of their quality check for new ranking methods or penalties.

[moltar]

The assumption is that Google track random users as part of their quality check for new ranking methods or penalties.

I was thinking along the same lines ;)