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Level 2

417 points

Google results links not working

Anyone else finding that (since upgrading to Yosemite - as far as I can tell) the links returned by a Google search intermittently all fail… "http://www.xxx.xxx could not be opened because the page cannot be found on that server" (or similar)?

A second click on the link (on the Google results page) usually goes right to the page. As does clicking on all other links - anywhere.

Surely it cannot be a failure of Google?

TA!

iMac with Retina 5K display, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3), Clean machine... no haxies; no Microsoft etc

Posted on May 15, 2015 7:13 AM

22 replies

Mark Sealey Author

Level 2

417 points

May 16, 2015 9:41 AM in response to Linc Davis

Linc,

Thanks for that. I've always assumed that Open DNS is doing a good job. Maybe I shall think again.

Which service would you recommend - the one provided by my ISP, AT&T U-Verse?

viz

Primary DNS: 68.94.156.1

Secondary DNS: 68.94.157.1

Does a possible DNS (mis)configuration go any way to explaining, though, why intermittently (I have just spent five minutes trying to reproduce the error; and failed) only the links on only Google results pages fail.

And then only on first click. Wait for them to time out and for Google to return the error. Click again, and they're instantly available.

Try again - with a pertinent query- and this is what I get:

Click to reload the page and - immediately - this is what appears:

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,559 points

May 16, 2015 11:24 AM in response to Mark Sealey

That looks like an ISP issue, but to answer your question, it's almost always best to use the DNS service provided by the ISP. That should happen automatically if you delete the OpenDNS server addresses from the network settings.

Mark Sealey Author

Level 2

417 points

May 16, 2015 1:34 PM in response to Linc Davis

Linc,

Have replaced OpenDNS with AT&T's DNS two addresses.

Still puzzled as to why links are reachable the second time, but never the first!

Mark Sealey Author

Level 2

417 points

May 17, 2015 11:53 AM in response to Mark Sealey

Have been using the default (AT&T Uverse) DNS addresses for a day or so now.

No difference.

The first time Google results fail - or least, when they're 'constructed'…

Subsequent clicks go right through!

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,559 points

May 17, 2015 12:09 PM in response to Mark Sealey

By reproducing the problem in Recovery mode—if that's really what you did—you've ruled out everything except a network problem external to the computer. To confirm, you would have to connect to a different network, such as the hotspot created by a mobile phone.

Mark Sealey Author

Level 2

417 points

May 17, 2015 1:12 PM in response to Linc Davis

Thanks, Yes - I believe so too.

It's intermittent.

From what I can see it seems to be that when Google has a direct link it works regardless; when Google constructs the oink with (presumably correctly)-escaped characters in its string as an argument after '?url=' it fails the first time and works the second time!

Mark Sealey Author

Level 2

417 points

May 19, 2015 5:04 PM in response to Mark Sealey

More research shows that a 'constructed' link like this (https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB8QFjAA&ur l=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2…) fails.

But a 'direct' link like this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrides) whenever such is displayed on a Google results page works!

Conclusions?

Google results links not working