What DataForSEO provides
DataForSEO supplies data APIs used by SEO software vendors, agencies and in-house data teams. Its catalogue covers SERPs, keywords, backlinks, business listings, content and other marketing datasets.
The Google Organic SERP API returns paid and organic results in live and queued modes, with configurable location, device and result depth.
Where the redirect matters
The destination URL is a core output. If Google exposes an opaque /goto token rather than the publisher URL in result markup, the service must follow or otherwise resolve that intermediary before returning the link customers expect. At scale, an extra operation per result can increase latency, failure rates and collection cost even when the public API schema stays the same. DataForSEO says it implemented direct-destination resolution before the wider rollout. Its published percentages describe a pre-update snapshot of returned SERPs containing at least one unresolved link; on 28 August it said direct URLs had been restored across the affected elements, while rare cases could remain.
/goto?url=[hash]resolve + attributepublisher URL
What DataForSEO has said
Specific /goto responseDataForSEO says it detected the format before the broad rollout and now returns direct URLs across affected elements, while allowing that extremely rare unresolved cases may remain. Its initial measurement found an unresolved link in 0.01% of organic SERPs, with materially higher rates in AI Overviews and local packs before the update.
The company describes a destination-resolution layer implemented before the rollout reached most users, then extended across AI Overview, local-pack and featured-snippet elements. It does not publish the extraction or redirect-handling code.
The response gives the strongest numerical evidence in the market, but the denominator is easy to misread: the percentages measure SERPs containing at least one unresolved URL, not the share of individual URLs. The sample design and an independent audit were not published.
No /goto-specific price, credit or quota change was announced. The statement establishes customer-facing continuity, not zero internal cost.
What is known — and what is not
The source record above is the latest attributable evidence located for DataForSEO. Its stated outcome is not treated as an independent accuracy audit: the exposure rating still describes the relevant product’s dependence on resolving live Google result URLs.
What customers should monitor
- Organic link fields containing google.com/goto instead of publisher URLs
- Higher response time, empty results or partial SERPs
- Parser, schema, pricing or quota notices concerning Google results
What should remain outside the change
- Non-Google sources where the redirect is not deployed
- Previously stored results that already contain resolved URLs