HIGHLIGHTS
- Users will see a primary link instead of a lengthy tracking string
- Works on using the Share button or by copy and pasting a link somewhere
- It does not affect referral information
Google Chrome 64 for Android- introduced in late January – has been spotted sporting a feature where it automatically cleans up messy referral links. Now, when users share a URL with someone, they will see the primary link instead of a lengthy tracking string. The new feature works automatically on Android handsets while sharing links from the Chrome browser, using built-in Share option to either share directly to an app or use the Copy to Clipboard option. somewhere else.
Quite often it is seen that URLs have a large amount of additional text attached to them. Users don’t prefer such huge amounts of junk included when a link is shared with them, as the link is unnecessarily long. For example, while sharing a tweet, it is often seen that the link includes a referrer to track how users landed up on the page. There are some URL shortener solutions to solve the issue, but since they are third-party apps, it is cumbersome to use all the time. But with Chrome 64, Google has taken care of the lengthy URLs. You can use the Share menu to copy the shortened link to the clipboard or share directly to another app.
Android Police had spotted the new feature on Chrome 64. The new feature removes anchor tags which are used to direct a user to a certain part of the page. This means that if you visit a link shared from Chrome for Android, it will take you to the top of that particular page. When we checked, the feature was found to work on links from Amazon, Flipkart, Google AMP, Wikipedia, and more. The clean up doesn’t work every time however. You can also manually copy the entire URL if you need it, by selecting the URL from the navigation bar and copying it.
The new URL shortener is a part of several other features rolled out by Google for Chrome, including an inbuilt ad-blocker. The search giant will begin using its Chrome browser to eradicate ads it deems annoying or otherwise detrimental to users.
Source: gadgets.ndtv.com
