Why does using Google in the search bar (and only Google) not let me open search results in the same tab?

Question

Hello,
When I use Google in the search bar, I have to open the search results in a new tab. If I simply click on them to open in the current tab, I'm inevitably redirected right back to the main Google site. This has only started happening in the past month or two -- I'm considering switching to Chrome after 5 years with Firefox because of this. Please help! It's incredibly frustrating to consistently have to remind myself to open all search results in a new tab. It's quite a waste of time over the course of a day.
Here are the basic steps:
1) I do a search using Google in the search bar.
2) As is supposed to happen, the search returns results in the current tab.
3) When I click on a result link, I'm immediately sent back to www.google.com.
4) If I hit back to try to return to the search results, I'm taken to the page that was loaded BEFORE I even did the search.
5) If, and only if, I instead right-click or Mouse3 click on the search results and open them in a new tab, I can successfully go to the search result pages.
--Thank you

Answer 1

Try to clear the Google cookies.
Clear the cache and the cookies from sites that cause problems.
"Clear the Cache":
*Tools > Options > Advanced > Network > Offline Storage (Cache): "Clear Now"
"Remove Cookies" from sites causing problems:
*Tools > Options > Privacy > Cookies: "Show Cookies"