Safari History Problem with Google Searches

iEdd · Feb 8, 2012

Has anyone else noticed that if you open Google search results in a new tab/window, the results in your Safari history are displayed as:
http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&r...ejD0HTUdvf-7m4hYg&sig2=oCpRGW-s5NWPwu6m4yfu7w
instead of
http://www.wikipedia.org
???

Others also seem to have this issue, some dating back 1-2 years.

One suggestion I read said to turn off Google instant, but that hasn't fixed the problem.

Has anyone fixed this? Or is it time to just admit to ourselves that Safari has been ruined and move on to Chrome already?

I'm using Safari Version 5.1.3 (7534.53.10) in Lion, but had this problem with 5.1 in Snow Leopard too.

Appreciate any help.
Thanks.

GGJstudios · Feb 8, 2012

iEdd said:
Has anyone else noticed that if you open Google search results in a new tab/window, the results in your Safari history are displayed as:
http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&r...ejD0HTUdvf-7m4hYg&sig2=oCpRGW-s5NWPwu6m4yfu7w
instead of
http://www.wikipedia.org
???

This is because Google adds all the extra "junk" to track information about which search results generate clicks. If you go to the actual page, that information is stripped off, but it's annoying if you want to copy the link directly from the search results page.

iEdd · Feb 8, 2012

Yes, I understand that, but other browsers, like Firefox and Chrome will resolve the redirect and log the history with the final address and appropriate title.

In fact, Safari does this correctly if you open the Google search result in the current tab - which is of no use when I frequently cmd+shift then click out a bunch of results into new tabs.

iEdd · Feb 9, 2012

Solved

For anyone with this same problem, there is a solution out there:
http://ask.metafilter.com/201154/Google-results-arent-recorded-inSafari-history
(You can download a safari extension for .com and .co.uk google there.)

This extension previously didn't work for me, as it isn't setup for google.au. To get it to work, I pasted those 2 lines of javascript:

Code:

var links = document.getElementsByClassName('l');
for(l in links) if (links[l].onmousedown) links[l].removeAttribute("onmousedown");

into a file I called main.js, then setup a Safari extension as in the screenshot shown below. Anyone wishing to make their own for .au (or any other domains can now do so using these settings).

Thankyou nowonmai and tylerkaraszewski of metafilter!

GGJstudios · Feb 9, 2012

iEdd said:
For anyone with this same problem, there is a solution out there:

And thank you for finding and posting this! This has been a pain in the browser for far too long!

ArtOfWarfare · Jan 13, 2013

YES!

Thank you so much for that plug in!

This page is the final one that will have that (no title) entry in my history

bkpr · Feb 21, 2013

Are you having success with this extension with Mountain Lion's Safari (6.0.2)? I wrote about this solution a while back, but since upgrading to Mountain Lion the scrambled URLs are back. I've removed/reinstalled the extension to no avail.

Any ideas?

iEdd · Feb 21, 2013

Yeah, same here. Frustratingly just starting to accept that Safari is a broken browser.

RaCha · Apr 27, 2013

Safari 6 Plugin

There's a different plugin called "Hisory Washer" that works in Safari 6 and fixes the issue for all Google searches performed after installing it. Works for me in Safari 6.0.3.

You can download it for free at http://www.leanbyte.com/historywasher.

elppa · Apr 28, 2013

iEdd said:
Yeah, same here. Frustratingly just starting to accept that Safari is a broken browser.

Links no longer have the l class on the results page.

If you change the first line (in the script posted):

Code:

var links = document.getElementsByClassName('l');

to this:

Code:

var links = document.querySelectorAll("h3.r a");

It should work again.

iEdd · May 5, 2013

Thanks for the tip, elppa.

Unfortunately, it only seems to fix it when you:
• Go to http://www.google.com (or .com.au)
• Search
• Click a result

If I type the search into the safari search/address bar, then click a result, I still get the garbled history entries. Any ideas?

Ramashalanka · Jun 3, 2013

The gdirectlinks Safari Extension works for me in Safari 6.0.4.

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