Google’s first attack on SerpApi failed,now it’s changing Search itself, and Ahrefs is already feeling the impact.

Google has confirmed it’s rolling out google.com/goto redirects across Search.

Instead of exposing destination URLs directly in the SERP, Google can now route them through server-side redirects.

Even normal users are seeing the anti-bot friction now. Glenn Gabe
spotted Google briefly holding a “Continue” button before letting the search through.

For scrapers?

More requests. More proxy usage. More cost. More chances of getting blocked.

Nozzle says it’s seeing the change across nearly 100% of SERPs on several residential IP providers.

Ahrefs has already been seeing the redirects too, although they’re reportedly working around the change.

Google doesn’t need to make scraping impossible.
It just needs to keep making it harder and more expensive.

SerpApi may have started this fight. But rank trackers, SEO tools, AI visibility platforms and AI companies could all end up playing it.