As the internet grew bigger, people wanted to share their website links to attract audience. Sadly, sending a website address was often cumbersome when the links were long and could not be accommodated in the sending medium. Google created a solution for this problem and created its URL shortener service, goo.gl. This service not only shortened links but also help website creators to track traffic. This service sadly will soon be phased out. Google has announced that the goo.gl service will be shutting down.


The most important information, you, the reader wants to know is what will happen in the run-up to the shutdown. Google has informed that starting April 13, 2018 both registered and unregistered users of the service will not be able to create new short links. If you are a registered user you will be able to access the features of goo.gl console until March 30, 2019. Finally we have to deliver the good news, all the links that have been created using the goo.gl service till date will continue to work even after March 30, 2019.

So why has Google decided to drop this popular service? It will be replaced with Firebase Dynamic Links (FDL). Now you might not have heard of this tool but we are sure you have encountered it once or maybe more. The best example of Firebase Dynamic Links is how you can transfer navigation information from Google Maps on its desktop website to the Google Maps Android or iOS app. You now realise the superiority of FDL over goo.gl. You can not only shorten links but also redirect users to any location within a web page or smartphone app (both Android and iOS). Even as Google is pushing users to use the FDL after April 13th, existing links will not be automatically migrated to the Firebase console or it’s API. You can create new links with the Firebase console. If you wish to keep things simple you can use other URL shortener services like Bitly and Owly.

Source: Google Developers Blog: Transitioning Google URL Shortener to Firebase Dynamic Links