Yeah, it's really bad that Google don't actually show the proper characters in the URL. It's hard to spot - but at least if they displayed the actual URL then you'd have a chance.

> 2) In advertisements, Google shouldn't allow the advertiser to modify the domain that is displayed. Really, why do they even do this?

Because advertisers usually want to send links to a tracker site of their own first so that they can verify if their numbers match up with what Google reports.

No one trusts anyone in the advertising space, and for good reasons. Advertising has always been a space filled to the brim with crooks and fraudsters.

>Advertising has always been a space filled to the brim with crooks and fraudsters.

If I ever work at a cubicle, I will hang this sentence on a large frame over my desk, then stay silent and stare every time someone comes and complains about my ad blockers.

Unless you're working at an adtech company, why would anyone complain about your ad blockers at work? Or even notice?

There was a brief period in my tech history where I viewed adblockers as "somewhat immoral."

I am waaay past that now.

For one thing, Google search ads should not show users a domain different from the domain Google redirects directly to. If a website wants to track clicks, the URL they ask Google to send users to should not live on a different domain than the domain the user sees before clicking. Anything else invites impersonation like this, and makes Google complicit in undetectable phishing.

See previously, gilimp and https://fxtwitter.com/ericlaw/status/1712531148356661494.

4) Use a different search engine. I use search.brave.com myself.

> 1) Use an ad blocker, always.

There used to be a time where it was moral to whitelist trusted websites to give them ad revenue. That time is far gone.

Stories like this are a stark reminder to use a good adblocker (uBlock Origin) everywhere on every site all the time.

To reuse an overused analogy, adblockers are like condoms for the web.