1) So the backend can track you across fingerprinted links

2) So you can't know what's searched without getting tracked

You're the product, not the customer.

Interesting observation: As soon as you right click on a link, it switches from that to https://www.google.com/url?...

> Can google justify why are they doing this?

Look at Google's earnings reports and see what constitutes 80-90% of their revenues and profits

they do that because they added this dark pattern on gmail almost two decades ago and absolutely nobody ever complained.

why wouldn't they expand it?

Remember AMP?

Baby steps and they’ll try again.