diff --git a/src/engines/mod.rs b/src/engines/mod.rs
index e721aaa..cf4bc86 100644
--- a/src/engines/mod.rs
+++ b/src/engines/mod.rs
@@ -193,16 +193,17 @@ pub async fn search_with_client_and_engines(
     for engine in engines {
         requests.push(async {
             let engine = *engine;
-            progress_tx.send(ProgressUpdate::new(
-                ProgressUpdateKind::Requesting,
-                engine,
-                start_time,
-            ))?;
 
             let request_response = engine.request(client, query).into();
 
             let response = match request_response {
                 RequestResponse::Http(request) => {
+                    progress_tx.send(ProgressUpdate::new(
+                        ProgressUpdateKind::Requesting,
+                        engine,
+                        start_time,
+                    ))?;
+
                     let res = request.send().await?;
 
                     progress_tx.send(ProgressUpdate::new(
diff --git a/src/normalize.rs b/src/normalize.rs
index ea25732..40289d0 100644
--- a/src/normalize.rs
+++ b/src/normalize.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 use url::Url;
 
 pub fn normalize_url(url: &str) -> eyre::Result<String> {
+    let url = url.trim_end_matches('#');
     if url.is_empty() {
         return Ok(String::new());
     }
diff --git a/src/parse.rs b/src/parse.rs
index 428fc1d..e450d48 100644
--- a/src/parse.rs
+++ b/src/parse.rs
@@ -161,11 +161,17 @@ pub(super) fn parse_html_response_with_opts(
             let url = normalize_url(&url)?;
             let description = featured_snippet_description_query_method.call(&featured_snippet)?;
 
-            Some(EngineFeaturedSnippet {
-                url,
-                title,
-                description,
-            })
+            // this can happen on google if you search "what's my user agent"
+            let is_empty = description.is_empty() && title.is_empty() && url.is_empty();
+            if is_empty {
+                None
+            } else {
+                Some(EngineFeaturedSnippet {
+                    url,
+                    title,
+                    description,
+                })
+            }
         } else {
             None
         }