Google is improving its URL corrector in its Chrome browser. A practical function to correct typos in web addresses, but also to avoid coming across fraudulent pages imitating legitimate URLs…
Google Chrome is full of new features for its address bar in order to save you time and better protect you against fraud attempts by cybercriminals, as the company announced in a blog post. You’ve probably already experienced it: when you quickly enter a URL in the address bar of your browser – also called omnibox – you end up on a site that is not the one you wanted. Because by typing a little quickly, you made typing errors, and you landed on a site with a close address. And, in the worst case, you risk even arriving on a fraudulent site, which deliberately uses an address similar to that of a reputable site to deceive you. A usurpation technique known as typosquatting – typosquattage in pseudo-French… – which allows crooks to lure less vigilant Internet users into traps (see our article), by imitating the layout and graphic charter legitimate sites to steal account credentials, recover banking details, and resell confidential information on the Dark Web…
Automatic URL correction: a good defense against fraudulent sites
It is to put an end to these problems that Google had integrated in May 2023 an automatic address corrector in its Chrome browser for computers – the tool arrived on mobile versions a few months later. Like automatic spelling correction systems for text, this new function was able to automatically detect typos in URLs as you type, suggesting “correct” addresses based on previously visited sites, but also by using a list of “safe” sites: an excellent way to limit typing errors, when you type an address too quickly, without checking, but also to avoid coming across a fraudulent site imitating a legitimate address with a few letters of difference .
The problem is that the corrector previously only worked if the start of the URL was correct. So you had to know, for example, that the Google Flights site started with google.com. Now the address bar automatically populates URLs based on words that were previously used to search for a website. So if you only type “flights”, Chrome automatically displays “https://www.google.com/travel/flights”. This improvement is currently only available on computer. In addition to this auto-completion function, the omnibox hosts an automatic typo correction function. This is based on the sites that you have already visited and saved in your history or in your favorites. An addition available on computer, Android and iOS now.
Searches can also be done in your favorites folders directly from the Chrome address bar on desktop and mobile. Simply enter the folder name in the search to get suggestions from this collection. Additionally, Chrome now suggests popular sites in the address bar, even if you’ve never visited them or typed the URL incorrectly. Useful when you have trouble remembering the name of a website recommended by an acquaintance! Finally, Google claims to have improved the responsiveness of the search bar and the readability of its results.
URL corrector in Chrome: the end of errors in web addresses
URL correction is particularly useful to Internet users who make typing errors through haste or inattention, but also to people with dyslexia – including digital dyslexia. But one might wonder why Google didn’t think of such functions before. As explained The Verge, they will logically lead to a reduction in your searches on Google, a major pillar of the company’s activity. This relies heavily on what is called navigational search. For example, if you want to go to our How it works site, you will probably type “how it works” into the omnibox, which will redirect you to Google, and you will then click on the first result. Not to mention, typos cause more search queries than you might think. Not really in the interest of the Internet giant…
Google has obviously changed its mind. This is undoubtedly due to the historic trial which accuses it of being a research monopoly and of abusing its power at the expense of consumers. Not to mention that the search service is gradually adopting AI – which, according to the CEO of the Internet giant, constitutes the future of search –, which makes each query more costly for the company. All the better for us !