_{| It’s not a shortcut, it’s circuitous. → adjective |
It’s not a shortcut, it’s a diversion. “→ not a direct path
| It’s not a shortcut, it’s a long shot. → not a safe bet, two words
| It’s not a shortcut, it’s a dead link. Hellicion’s suggestion of detour is an}

excellent choice as well, although his other suggestion scenic route appears to be the common choice. I don’t think scenic route was a good choice for the sample sentence, it seems lost and overdone. I’m enjoying our conversation, so let’s take the scenic route.

I believe in the context of your use case, you can use circuitous, or one of its synonyms (which include indirect, circular, or roundabout ) as in: | It’s not

a shortcut, it’s circuitous.

: not straight, short, and direct
_{Merriam-WebsterOnline If}

you need a noun word, you can use diversion.

The connotation is not quite opposite of shortcut, but it will imply the path is not direct.

: the act of changing direction of something : the act of diverting something Merriam-Webster online When
_{the word}

“shortcut” is used to indicate a relatively safe path, (a shortcut to success) as in ” a shortcut to success”, a word with a nice ring for opposing it would be long shot.

: an attempt or effort that is not likely to be successful
_{Merriam-Webster online}

Finally, in the use of shortcut in the context of a web browser bookmark, the only opposing sense I can think of is a dead link.

A dead link is a link on the world wide web that points to a webpage or server that is permanently unavailable.
_{Urban Dictionary}

I have further reflected upon stale link (the link no longer points to what it originally pointed to). “Bread Crumb” is a shorthand for breadcrumbs. What does it mean and

what can be done differently?

What would include the web link merely takes you to a starting point to find the true thing of interest, rather than taking you directly to the thing of interest. This describes exactly the type of backlinks that a browser tracks for you so that you can back out to your starting point.

_{| It’s not a shortcut, it’s circuitous. → adjective |
It’s not a shortcut, it’s a diversion. “→ not a direct path
| It’s not a shortcut, it’s a long shot. → not a safe bet, two words
| It’s not a shortcut, it’s a dead link. Hellicion’s suggestion of detour is an}

excellent choice as well, although his other suggestion scenic route appears to be the common choice. I don’t think scenic route was a good choice for the sample sentence, it seems lost and overdone. I’m enjoying our conversation, so let’s take the scenic route.

I believe in the context of your use case, you can use circuitous, or one of its synonyms (which include indirect, circular, or roundabout ) as in: | It’s not

a shortcut, it’s circuitous.

: not straight, short, and direct
_{Merriam-WebsterOnline If}

you need a noun word, you can use diversion.

The connotation is not quite opposite of shortcut, but it will imply the path is not direct.

: the act of changing direction of something : the act of diverting something Merriam-Webster online When
_{the word}

“shortcut” is used to indicate a relatively safe path, (a shortcut to success) as in ” a shortcut to success”, a word with a nice ring for opposing it would be long shot.

: an attempt or effort that is not likely to be successful
_{Merriam-Webster online}

Finally, in the use of shortcut in the context of a web browser bookmark, the only opposing sense I can think of is a dead link.

A dead link is a link on the world wide web that points to a webpage or server that is permanently unavailable.
_{Urban Dictionary}

I have further reflected upon stale link (the link no longer points to what it originally pointed to). “Bread Crumb” is a shorthand for breadcrumbs. What does it mean and

what can be done differently?

What would include the web link merely takes you to a starting point to find the true thing of interest, rather than taking you directly to the thing of interest. This describes exactly the type of backlinks that a browser tracks for you so that you can back out to your starting point.

Consider apropos :

Very applicable to a particular situation.
‘ the composer’s reference to child’s play is apropos” The
song feels apropos to a midnight jaunt’Oxford Living Dictionaries Or
_pertinent

She asked me a lot of very pertinent questions.
“Practitioners should consider all factors pertinent to a situation”
_{Oxford Living Dictionaries.}

Consider apropos :

Very applicable to a particular situation.
‘ the composer’s reference to child’s play is apropos” The
song feels apropos to a midnight jaunt’Oxford Living Dictionaries Or
_pertinent

She asked me a lot of very pertinent questions.
“Practitioners should consider all factors pertinent to a situation”
_{Oxford Living Dictionaries.}

Consider apropos :

Very applicable to a particular situation.
‘ the composer’s reference to child’s play is apropos” The
song feels apropos to a midnight jaunt’Oxford Living Dictionaries Or
_pertinent

She asked me a lot of very pertinent questions.
“Practitioners should consider all factors pertinent to a situation”
_{Oxford Living Dictionaries.}

Consider apropos :

Very applicable to a particular situation.
‘ the composer’s reference to child’s play is apropos” The
song feels apropos to a midnight jaunt’Oxford Living Dictionaries Or
_pertinent

She asked me a lot of very pertinent questions.
“Practitioners should consider all factors pertinent to a situation”
_{Oxford Living Dictionaries.}

Consider apropos :

Very applicable to a particular situation.
‘ the composer’s reference to child’s play is apropos” The
song feels apropos to a midnight jaunt’Oxford Living Dictionaries Or
_pertinent

She asked me a lot of very pertinent questions.
“Practitioners should consider all factors pertinent to a situation”
_{Oxford Living Dictionaries.}

Consider apropos :

Very applicable to a particular situation.
‘ the composer’s reference to child’s play is apropos” The
song feels apropos to a midnight jaunt’Oxford Living Dictionaries Or
_pertinent

She asked me a lot of very pertinent questions.
“Practitioners should consider all factors pertinent to a situation”
_{Oxford Living Dictionaries.}

Consider apropos :

Very applicable to a particular situation.
‘ the composer’s reference to child’s play is apropos” The
song feels apropos to a midnight jaunt’Oxford Living Dictionaries Or
_pertinent

She asked me a lot of very pertinent questions.
“Practitioners should consider all factors pertinent to a situation”
_{Oxford Living Dictionaries.}

Consider apropos :

Very applicable to a particular situation.
‘ the composer’s reference to child’s play is apropos” The
song feels apropos to a midnight jaunt’Oxford Living Dictionaries Or
_pertinent

She asked me a lot of very pertinent questions.
“Practitioners should consider all factors pertinent to a situation”
_{Oxford Living Dictionaries.}