If I copy and paste a link to a new tab from the search results, will Google count this action towards the click through rate which could influence the ranking?
If many people click a link in a search result, the link could get better rankings. If I see a competitor's link in the results, I would not click it but copy and paste its URL to the address bar. I'd like to know whether or not this would prevent search engines from counting my click and possibly helping my competitor.
If I search for "stack exchange" and mouse over the first link it looks like https://stackexchange.com/. However if I right click on the link and copy it something else entirely gets copied to my clipboard: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjZrqrJucT3AhXzg4kEHa-NDx0QFnoECBYQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fstackexchange.com%2F&usg=AOvVaw1r9ZzIE06ruFYC8R7aaXng That is a link that Google uses to track my click. Using that URL would allow Google to track copy and paste just like I had actually performed the click.
So even if you want to avoid Google tracking your clicks from the search results, you need to be more sophisticated than just copying the link and pasting it in a new tab. This article from Search Engine Journal details some ways that you might be able to do that: How to Remove Redirects from Google SERPs
Is this something you need to do though? It is very unlikely that one person's clicks would change your competitor's rankings. Google is going to aggregate the data from hundreds or thousands of users before it uses CTR as a ranking factor. Also, CTR is likely to be a ranking factor only when:
See my answer to Is click through rate from the search results an important ranking factor for Google? for further reading about my reasoning. The only time that I might worry about clicking on a competitor is if they are ranking pretty far down the page. Even then, I wouldn't bother trying to hide my click from Google.
