# How to share a Google search link without the tracking

- Canonical: https://linkclean.app/guides/clean-google-search-link/
- Updated: 2026-10-01
- Author: Ken Tominaga (https://ken0nek.com)
- Get the app: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/linkclean/id6758604043

> A Google results URL only needs `q=` to work. Everything after it — `sca_esv`, `ei`, `ved`, `oq`, `rlz`, `gs_lcrp` — describes your session, including when you searched and what you typed first. LinkClean removes that tail on Google's search domains and keeps the query, the result type (`tbm`, `udm`) and the language (`hl`).

Sending someone a search is a normal thing to do: “here, these results”. But a search has no clean address of its own, so what you copy is the address bar, and Google's address bar carries a long session tail.

That tail is not needed by whoever opens the link. It is a record of your side of the search: the time it ran (`ei`), the token Google will not explain (`sca_esv`), which link you clicked (`ved`), what you had typed before picking a suggestion (`oq`), and — from Chrome — how your browser was installed (`rlz`).

## Steps

1. **Use the LinkClean share-sheet action** — On the results page, tap Share and choose Clean URL. The cleaned search link is on your clipboard: the query, plus the result-type and language settings if you had any.
2. **Or paste into the app to see what was there** — Open LinkClean and paste the results URL. Each removed parameter is listed, so you can see how much of the address was session tail. Copy the result.
3. **Check that the filters you wanted survived** — If you were on News, Images or the Web-only view, the cleaned link keeps tbm= or udm= and opens on the same tab. A date range or other tool setting lives in tbs=, which is also kept.
4. **Manual fallback** — In the address bar, keep everything up to the end of q=your+query and delete from the next & onward. Reload to confirm the same results appear. If you needed a filter, add it back: &tbm=nws for News, &udm=14 for Web-only.

Why not delete the whole query string, as you would on most links? Because here the query string is the page. A cleaner that strips everything after the `?` turns a search link into Google's home page. LinkClean's rules for Google are a list of the session keys to remove, scoped to Google's search domains, so `q=` is never at risk.

The same scoping is why these rules do nothing on other sites. `ei` and `oq` are short enough to be ordinary parameters elsewhere, and elsewhere they are left alone.

## Related

- [What's in a Google search URL? Every parameter, explained](https://linkclean.app/learn/google-search-url-parameters/)
- [What is sca_esv?](https://linkclean.app/trackers/sca-esv/)
- [What is ei, and why does it carry a timestamp?](https://linkclean.app/trackers/ei/)
- [q= — the search query parameter (functional, preserved)](https://linkclean.app/trackers/q/)
- [How to clean a YouTube share link](https://linkclean.app/guides/clean-youtube-link/)


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LinkClean removes tracking parameters from links on-device — free to clean, one-time Pro. https://linkclean.app/ · Cite freely with attribution.