Google launched its official link shortener some ten years ago in December of 2009. The link shortener was supposed to be used with the Google Toolbar and Feedburner. The need for link shortening services has declined over the past few years so it’s no surprise that the company has decided to sunset the service.
Google did start to wind down the service last year. Goog.gl was no longer available for new users from May 2018 onwards. The company has now decided to shut the service down for good. Existing users will not be able to access it any longer as well.
It said last year that only existing users will be able to create short links on the goo.gl console. It also said that users will be able to view their analytics data and download their short link information in csv format for up to one year, till March 30th, 2019 to be precise.
That’s when the company decided to discontinue the service altogether. It does mention that the shutdown of this service is not going to affect previously created links. They will continue to redirect to their intended destination. So if you have used goo.gl frequently in the past to shorten links, rest assured, this shutdown won’t leave them broken.
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