Why links from Google look so long
When you copy a link from Google search results, you often get something like https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&…&url=https%3A%2F%2Fdeveloper.mozilla.org%2F… instead of the page address. The real URL is hidden inside a redirect so that the click can be recorded. Sharing such a link sends your recipients through the redirect too, and the long, encoded address looks suspicious. This un-Google link tool extracts the real destination.
Example
Read this: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fdeveloper.mozilla.org%2Fen-US%2Fdocs%2FWeb%3Futm_source%3Dnewsletter%26utm_medium%3Demail&usg=AOvRead this: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/WebThe Google wrapper is removed, the destination is decoded, and the utm_ parameters inside it are stripped. Surrounding text and punctuation are kept.
Redirect wrappers the un-Google link tool unwraps
- Google search and Gmail:
google.com/url,/link,/interstitialon any Google country domain. - Google AMP (
google.com/amp/s/…) and Google Images (/imgres). - Google paid-search click links (
/aclkand googleadservices.com). - Facebook, Messenger and Instagram outbound links (
l.facebook.com,l.instagram.com). - YouTube description links (
youtube.com/redirect). - Microsoft Outlook Safe Links (
safelinks.protection.outlook.com). - LinkedIn, Reddit and
href.liredirects.
Nested wrappers are unwrapped repeatedly, so a Safe Link around a Google link still resolves to the final page.
More before-and-after examples
Each wrapper hides the destination in a different parameter, which is why unwrapping by hand is error-prone:
https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fshop.example.com%2Fitem%3Fid%3D7%26fbclid%3DIwAR0abc&h=AT3xyz
→ https://shop.example.com/item?id=7
https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhq&q=https%3A%2F%2Fexample.org%2Fnotes
→ https://example.org/notesIn the first link the destination sits in u= and the Facebook click ID travels inside it; the id=7 parameter survives because the product page needs it. In the second, YouTube uses q=. Paste both at once and each one is cleaned in place.
Tracking parameters removed
With tracking removal on, these query parameters are deleted from the final URL: all utm_* tags, marketing click IDs (gclid, gbraid, wbraid, dclid, msclkid, fbclid, twclid, ttclid, yclid), email campaign IDs (mc_cid, mc_eid, _hsenc, mkt_tok) and a few others such as _ga, igshid and si. Parameters the page needs to work, such as a search term or product ID, are left alone.
Why clean links before sharing?
Clean links are shorter, easier to read in documents and chat messages, and they do not pass your click history or campaign data to the next reader. They also age better: redirect services change, but the destination URL usually keeps working.
A note on safety
Unwrapping also has a security benefit: you can see the real domain before you click. Be aware that Outlook Safe Links scan the destination when clicked; removing the wrapper removes that check, so only unwrap links you have reason to trust. The tool never visits any of the URLs; it only rewrites the text you paste.
To inspect the remaining parts of a cleaned link, use the URL parser. Encoded characters left in a URL can be read with the URL decoder. Everything runs in your browser.