Google Maps is a crucial tool for businesses and users alike, and recently the service has undergone a change. For the past several days, users have noticed that clicking URLs in Google Maps results in a “redirect notice,” but it could be an intentional change.
First and foremost, this is definitely not something to worry about. These websites aren’t suddenly unsafe or anything. However, the redirect page that Google is showing could make some users think that’s what is going on, and that could (and probably will) result in lost traffic for these businesses as SearchEngineLand points out.
The redirect notice appears when users click on the URL for a business listing from Google Maps, such as the businesses linked website. This isn’t totally uncommon for Google to do with websites in Chrome, but it’s very uncommon on links as explicit as this. For example, YouTube links don’t do this.
At the moment, it’s unclear if this is simply a bug, or an intentional change Google has made. The company hasn’t commented on the matter as of yet, but there are dozens of reports of the problem on a support thread. The change seems widespread for most Google Maps users on desktop browsers but doesn’t affect the mobile app.
More on Google Maps:
- Google SOS alerts gain real-time natural disaster data, safe Maps navigation
- Google Maps rolling out live speedometer feature in US, some EU nations
- Food delivery is now integrated into Google Assistant, Search, and Maps
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