Billions of URLs using Google's link shortener will stop working in 2025

Alfonso Maruccia · Jul 19, 2024

Link Rot: URL shortening is a technique designed to turn long web addresses into shorter, more manageable links. This process can make life easier for web visitors, but it can also introduce a new point of failure to an already fragile internet infrastructure as Google is preparing to demonstrate.

Google just announced that links created through its URL shortener service will soon stop working. The service was deprecated a few years ago, but old links were still functioning as expected. After August 25, 2025, URLs starting with "goo.gl/" will return a 404 HTTP error response instead of resolving to the original web link.

Mountain View deprecated the URL shortener service in 2018 and asked developers to transition to Firebase Dynamic Links, which have now been deprecated as well. The company continued to resolve previously shortened links, but the service could no longer create new goo.gl links. Google explained the deprecation by citing the emergence of numerous popular URL shortening services, many of which are still going strong today.

Any developer still using goo.gl links will be impacted by the change, but Google is taking a year to properly inform users about the issue. Starting August 23, 2024, the company said, an undisclosed percentage of goo.gl links will display an interstitial page with a warning about the 2025 expiration date before redirecting the user to the original target page.

The percentage of links showing the interstitial warning will increase over time until the shutdown date. This way, developers should be able to track and modify any affected links before encountering the dreaded 404 error response. Interstitial pages may also cause issues for link redirections, the company warned, although the warning can be "suppressed" by manually adding the query parameter "si=1" to goo.gl links.

Today's web is very different compared to 2018, and URL shorteners have mostly lost their consumer appeal in favor of apps and mobile-focused experiences. Furthermore, link rot and AI-generated content have turned the web into a less enjoyable source of information than it was before.

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Billions of URLs using Google's link shortener will stop working in 2025

p51d007 · Jul 19, 2024

I never used it. I've always used tinyurl

trgz · Jul 20, 2024

Given that nobody types in a URL these days, why do they even exist? And do they exist for our benefit? I view them as a shady way of hiding trackers (which get stripped by my browser if they exist)

skittlebrau · Jul 21, 2024

trgz said:
Given that nobody types in a URL these days, why do they even exist? And do they exist for our benefit? I view them as a shady way of hiding trackers (which get stripped by my browser if they exist)

I use them to link to forms, event promotion, links in mass emails, or if the boss wants a QR code in a flyer. Sometimes I also have to link to documents on the company website in many different places, so it’s usually easiest to use a short link to do this. I pretty much always use them for stuff that has a new revision/edition that changes often.

In saying that, I would never use a third party link shortening service. The one I use is self hosted and transferable.

They have legitimate uses.

Tinderbox · Thursday at 11:13 PM

Classic Google move.

Endymio · Friday at 6:39 AM

trgz said:
Given that nobody types in a URL these days, why do they even exist? And do they exist for our benefit?

The only reason you don't type in a URL is because your computer -- or some remote one -- is storing it invisibly for you. URLs are still the only means to identify web endpoints. For instance, every link on this web forum page -- everything from the top menu to the "about us" blurb at the bottom -- are reached via URLs. And if those stored URLs are shortened with Google's service, they'll soon stop working.

trgz · 2024-08-03T04:15:10-0400

Endymio said:
The only reason you don't type in a URL is because your computer -- or some remote one -- is storing it invisibly for you. URLs are still the only means to identify web endpoints. For instance, every link on this web forum page -- everything from the top menu to the "about us" blurb at the bottom -- are reached via URLs. And if those stored URLs are shortened with Google's service, they'll soon stop working.

I think that you missed my point. I'll reword it: "Given that nobody types in a URL these days, why do shortened URLs even exist?"
I wasn't suggesting that URLs didn't exist, it's just that nobody really types one in, regardless if they exist in their natural form or shortened. In my experience, they're usually clicked on or copy/pasted (or scanned if they're in the form of a QR code) - I wouldn't myself even bother to type out a shortened bit.ly or goo.gl URL. I feel it's just another way to hide the tracking and forwarding data embedded in an unshortend URL. (And don't forget, URLs are still translated to IP addresses anyhow)

Endymio · 2024-08-03T09:38:50-0400

trgz said:
I'll reword it: "Given that nobody types in a URL these days, why do shortened URLs even exist?"
.... In my experience, they're usually clicked on or copy/pasted.

As the article said, the primary concern is those web developers who unwisely embedded shortened URLs in site HTML and backend API code:

"Mountain View deprecated the URL shortener service in 2018 and asked developers to transition to Firebase Dynamic Links ... Any developer still using goo.gl links will be impacted by the change. Starting August 23, 2024 [an] undisclosed percentage of goo.gl links will display an interstitial page with a warning about the 2025 expiration date before redirecting the user to the original target page....The percentage of links showing the interstitial warning will increase over time until the shutdown date. This way, developers should be able to track and modify any affected links...."

trgz · 2024-08-04T04:14:39-0400

Endymio said:
As the article said, the primary concern is those web developers who unwisely embedded shortened URLs in site HTML and backend API code:

"Mountain View deprecated the URL shortener service in 2018 and asked developers to transition to Firebase Dynamic Links ... Any developer still using goo.gl links will be impacted by the change. Starting August 23, 2024 [an] undisclosed percentage of goo.gl links will display an interstitial page with a warning about the 2025 expiration date before redirecting the user to the original target page....The percentage of links showing the interstitial warning will increase over time until the shutdown date. This way, developers should be able to track and modify any affected links...."

The point seems to miss you every time.

Billions of URLs using Google's link shortener will stop working in 2025

Alfonso Maruccia

Posts: 1,217 +345

Link Rot: URL shortening is a technique designed to turn long web addresses into shorter, more manageable links. This process can make life easier for web visitors, but it can also introduce a new point of failure to an already fragile internet infrastructure as Google is preparing to demonstrate.

p51d007

Posts: 4,089 +4,048

trgz

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skittlebrau

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Tinderbox

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Endymio

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trgz

Posts: 499 +251

Endymio

Posts: 3,163 +3,072

trgz

Posts: 499 +251

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