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> Hovering over an ad link on Chrome, it shows in bottom bar the link as going to brand.com . How can this be done, it's just an <a href="..."> ? Inspecting or right-click shows the true link to www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk...

Google has been doing this since forever (for any search results too)... They update the link target on-click using javascript to be able to track everything you click on.

Thanks for clarification.

no problem... I always hated this about Google... feels deceptive... I wish that it was not even possible to change the destination of a link when you click on it (most people probably don't even notice it).

on 2: afaik this rewrite of the link target is done throu javascript. it's despicable but apparently the only way for google to count the click.

Am I weird for preferring the "After" screen? It's still got the most relevant result on the top but manages to fit in two other possibly relevant results as well.