Google Pulls The Plug On goo.gl URL Shortener

What Is Google’s URL Shortener?

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Google first launched its URL shortener tool back in 2009, allowing users to submit sizable links to be reduced in length. These links would start with https://goog.gl/.

But, why bother shortening links? Smaller links to sites or pages are easier to share in messages, socials, or email.

However, Google shut down the ability to produce goo.gl links in 2019, following an announcement in 2018 – so the news this month is following a similar pattern, giving website owners a year-long heads up. Here’s what Google said in its blog post:

“In 2018, we announced the deprecation and transition of Google URL Shortener because of the changes we’ve seen in how people find content on the internet, and the number of new popular URL shortening services that emerged in that time. This meant that we no longer accepted new URLs to shorten but that we would continue serving existing URLs. Today, the time has come to turn off the serving portion of Google URL Shortener.”

Are Your Links Affected?

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If you’ve previously used the Google URL Shortener to create goo.gl links, it’s worth checking through your content to assess the impact. While there’s still over a year to go until goo.gl links stop functioning, the interstitial page could harm traffic by putting visitors off before they even make it to your site.

The page below will start to be visible from August 23, 2024 – it’ll roll out steadily, with more and more links showing the interstitial page ahead of the 2025 cut-off.

Glenn Gabe on X reviewed the number of goo.gl links in existence, highlighting that 3.6 billion links could be impacted as the redirect engine shuts down. And, Chris Silver Smith flagged on X that Google Maps and Google Business Profile links also use the goo.gl format – meaning these could also be impacted, but there’s still some uncertainty surrounding the news.

After the August 2025 date, all goo.gl links will result in a 404 error page. This will remove all access to the URL, and any redirect pointing to or from your site using a goo.gl link will stop working. Google has also pulled the plug on its alternative URL shortener, Firebase Dynamic Links, with all links breaking at the same time as goo.gl links.

What Can You Use Instead of goo.gl Links?

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With Google announcing the end of its URL shortener, as well as its alternative option known as Firebase Dynamic Links, website owners will have to look to other platforms. Here are our top recommendations:

• Bitly
• TinyURL
• BL.INK
• Sniply
• Ow.ly
• Rebrandly
• Linktree

If you want to continue to simplify your links, read our review of the best URL shorteners for more information on each platform.