you’re not getting smart with SEO — you’re playing yourself.
People think these redirect-style backlinks boost authority because “it’s coming from Google, so Google trusts it.”
That logic is dead wrong. Google isn’t giving you “authority”. You’re being routed through a tracking redirect, not a Google endorsement.
Let’s tear this entire topic apart from A to Z, so you stop wasting time and start building backlinks that actually move rankings.
It’s not a link “from Google.”
It’s a redirect wrapper where the browser first hits google.com and then jumps to your website using the query parameter q=.
Translation: Google isn’t linking to you — it’s forwarding traffic.
People chase these backlinks because they believe:
“Google domain = high authority”
“If the link domain is Google, my SEO skyrockets”
“It counts as a backlink from DA 100”
All fantasy. None true.
Click tracking.
Analytics.
Security.
Spam detection.
Not SEO value for your site.
No.
They do not transfer PageRank, do not count as a contextual backlink, and Google’s crawler doesn’t treat them as “Google linking to you.”
If you rely on them for SEO, you’re building a sandcastle.
Not directly — but Google can flag them as:
Open redirect abuse
Spam
Link manipulation
If you start spamming redirect backlinks, you’ll get zero ranking power and possible trust issues.
Sometimes rankings jump after getting these backlinks — but it’s a coincidence.
The actual reason is usually:
increased branded search traffic,
social buzz,
referral traffic,
user engagement signals.
The redirect backlink itself does nothing.
Not fully.
They can help for:
tracking outbound clicks
hiding long affiliate URLs
redirecting users from social platforms
But they’re garbage as backlinks.
No.
If your backlink plan includes these, your SEO strategy is already flawed.
Yes, because attackers exploit them to hide phishing links behind a “Google.com” mask.
That’s why Google sometimes shows a Redirect Notice.
One simple rule:
A strong backlink is a direct link from a relevant site to yours — no redirects, no tracking hops, no wrappers.
If it doesn’t link straight to your URL, it’s not passing full value.
Hover the link, or inspect the page.
If you see parameters before your domain, it’s not a clean backlink:
?q=
?url=
?utm=
?destination=
Clean backlink = no middleman.
Google Redirect backlinks:
❌ don’t help SEO
❌ don’t increase authority
❌ don’t transfer PageRank
❌ don’t count as a DA 100 backlink
❌ can be flagged as spam
You want backlink quality?
Focus on:
guest posts
resource pages
local citations
partnerships
niche-relevant publications
real editorial mentions
Stop chasing illusion backlinks.
If your strategy depends on google.com/url?q= backlinks, you don’t have an SEO strategy — you have a placebo.
Once you clean up your link-building approach and stop worshipping fake “authority hacks,” your rankings start moving for real.