On top of that it's a constant perplexing hindrance for Luddites like myself who insist upon using the backspace key to navigate back a page, instead leaving me wondering why my search results page is refreshing instead.

Every. Single. Time.

I know, I know, it's my fault. But it's not.

You can also use Alt-LeftArrow, which works even if a text input field had focus.

Didn't Google even disable backspace to go back in Chrome somewhen last year? Or did they revert that again?

And well, there's many keyboards out there with no right Alt, meaning that you have to use two hands to execute that shortcut. So, I really don't think, it's a good idea to try to force people away from using backspace, as bad of a key as it is to be using for this...

I know, I know :)

It's just muscle memory - I've been using backspace since '97 or so.

Do people frequently use the Google Homepage for search? I've always just used the address / search bar via Ctrl+K shortcuts for instant searching. Why waste time going to google.com directly?

TIL: CTRL+K shortcut is F6 + TYPE

No, that'd be more like Ctrl+L. Ctrl+K is specifically for your default search engine, wheres Ctrl+L and F6 work for links and other search engines as well.

This isn't happening for me. Try it in incognito mode, maybe?

They already turned instant search off. Without instant search it doesn't go to a results page when you start typing.

oh you're right! it must have been cached.