Original Referrer Question - why are there two forward slashes after ".com" (example: https://www.google.com//)

[jvoskuil]

Occasionally I will see the Original Referrer field have a value of "https://www.google.com//" with two forward slashes after google.com. Is it reasonable to conclude that the two forward slashes actually indicate missing UTM parameters? Or could the two forward slashes indicate something else?

Our company has yet to focus on SEO, so the only way to find our website using search is to type in our company name exactly or click on a search ad that targets certain keywords. Sometimes original referrer will show up as "https://www.google.com/" with just one forward slash...other times it will show up with two. I just tested myself...I searched my company in Google, navigated to the site from the organic search result, and filled out a form. The lead created has Original Referrer value of "https://www.google.com/" with just one forward slash...exactly what I would expect. And no double forward slash.

We get more Organic Search leads than I think is reasonable considering our current strategy...my suspicion is that some are actually leads coming from our paid search campaigns, but their UTMs are missing. Our UTMs for our paid campaigns do generally show up...just not sure if there is another group of leads that are actually paid as well, just missing the UTM.

Thoughts?

[SanfordWhiteman]

Have you tested in IE? No version of IE (including IE 11) supports Referrer-Policy, and this slash seems like Google trying to fake Referrer-Policy using a JS redirect.

And no - wouldn't expect this to be related to the query string.

[jvoskuil]

Thanks for the suggestion. I will see if I can give that try.

I am on a Mac (and currently having difficulty finding an IE for Mac software download). But I think my fiance may have a PC lying around somewhere, I will see if I can locate her laptop.

[SanfordWhiteman]

It would have to be IE for PC in any case!