Google ceasing goo.gl short link operations in a year - points users to Firebase Dynamic Links service that is also being discontinued

Google will terminate goo.gl short link operations in a year on August 25, 2025. Amusingly, the company points users to their Firebase Dynamic Links (FDL) service, which is also being terminated on August 25, 2025. Users wanting to use short URLs and currently using goo.gl links will need to switch to a third-party link shortening service before that date.

URL shortening services provide a simple means to reach websites that normally require a long URL to be typed. These shortened URLs are also easier to remember and share. The idea was patented in 2000 by IBM (US6957224B1) and subsequently sold to X (then Twitter). X initially used the TinyURL service launched in 2002, then switched to Bitly in 2009, and today, X uses its own t.co shortening service for tweet post links. Google launched its own URL shortening service in 2009 in a field with many competitors.

Readers can learn about Google's history from this book on Amazon.

In 2018, Google announced the deprecation of its goo.gl service and asked customers to switch to its Firebase Dynamic Links smart URL service. FDLs can send visiting users to different websites or launch smartphone apps depending on the user’s device. Unfortunately for goo.gl and FDL users, FDL is also being discontinued, so readers using goo.gl short URLs should migrate to an alternative like TinyURL soon.