Google has changed how it handles the /goto redirect parameter, and the move creates fresh problems for third-party SEO data providers who rely on referral URLs to track search traffic.

The change, reported by Search Engine Land, is the latest in a series of Google adjustments that degrade the quality of data available outside Google's own products. For SEO tool vendors and the agencies that depend on them, it means another blind spot in attribution.

What is the /goto change?

The /goto parameter appears in URLs that Google uses to route users. When Google alters how these redirects behave or what information they expose, external analytics platforms lose visibility into where a click originated.

That matters because most third-party SEO tools build their traffic and ranking estimates from observable URL structures. Remove or obscure those structures, and the data gets noisier — or disappears entirely.

Who is affected?

The impact falls on three groups:

• SEO software vendors, whose traffic-source attribution becomes less precise.
• Agencies and in-house SEO teams, who must explain gaps in reporting to clients and executives.
• Publishers, who lose clarity on how much traffic Google actually sends them.

Google itself retains full visibility through Google Search Console and its ad products. That asymmetry is the core of the complaint: the data still exists, but only inside Google's walls.

Why does this keep happening?

Google has a long record of changes that reduce external observability — from encrypting organic search referrals (keyword-level "not provided") onward. Each change is individually technical. Together, they push marketers toward Google's own reporting tools.

Whether the /goto shift is deliberate anti-competitive tightening or routine infrastructure housekeeping, Google has not framed it as a feature announcement. The SEO trade press found it because tracking broke.

What should operators do now?

Practical steps are limited but real:

• Audit referral reports for anomalies before drawing conclusions from recent data.
• Cross-check third-party numbers against Google Search Console.
• Treat any single-source SEO dataset published in this period with caution.

The longer-term answer is diversification of measurement — first-party analytics, log-file analysis and panel-based data — rather than hoping any one URL parameter survives the next Google update.

This report is based on a Search Engine Land article; the publication's full analysis contains additional technical detail on the mechanism of the change.