Google is gearing up to break a lot of Web links

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Google once operated one of the most well-known link shorteners for people to get shorter links and track the clicks. Now though Google has decided to end the link shortener service fully, and every link it has formed.

From next month, those people who will be clicking on goo. gl links will discover a warning message before being trafficked to their preferred website.

This is the first step in Google’s long goodbye to URL shortener since it plans to permanently dismantle its services and tools, including URL shortener, by August 15, 2025.

Google originally discontinued goo.gl for new users back in 2018, but shortened links that existing users were using at that time remained active, However. After that, though, the company has decided to no longer support the service and delete every shortened link that it has created.

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Everybody is therefore expected to obtain new goo within about one year of expiring with the old goo.gl links in the applications and websites they build.

But a warning page will first be shown for, let’s say, about 1% of links, and over time, it will grow gradually to cover all goo. website banners, and ‘gl’ links show the message. The warning page shall alert users to the fact that the link will expire and recommend that they visit the intended website.

With this step, estimations are that about a couple billion old links online are going to be affected – although, it is Google’s opinion that such a change is needed for the Web to remain relevant and functionally sound in today’s world.

However, I am certain that most of the pages will not be updated in time and that it will become very difficult to locate the actual source if it is still in existence.

Linked Counterblast: Link rot is one of the major issues of the contemporary web, whereas Google decided to eliminate all the shortened links. This is also a service which probably costs very little to maintain – it is simply a series of links – and, therefore, the definite shutdown only aggravates the situation.

The goo.gl shortener joins a long list of discontinued Google products and services, including Hangouts, Stadia, and Google+. It’s sad, but at the same time, it’s what we’ve grown accustomed to from Google.

Source: Google, Engadget