The Google URL Shortener at goo.gl is a service that takes long URLs and squeezes them into fewer characters to make a link easier to share, tweet, or email to friends. For example, the short URL http://goo.gl/8HL6S is a convenient shorthand representation for the long URL https://teck.in/create-tinyurl-at-your-site-and-shorten-long-affiliate-links.html.
How do I use the Google URL Shortener?
Go to goo.gl and paste the long URL you wish to shorten into the input box at the top of the page. Click “Shorten” and to the right of the box you’ll see a short goo.gl URL that can be copied and pasted anywhere you’d like to share it.
If you’d like to track the analytics of your shortened URL, please sign in to your Google Account before shortening your URL. Your shortened URL will automatically be added to your goo.gl history.
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Why use the Google URL Shortener?
People share a lot of links online. This is particularly true as microblogging services such as Twitter and Google Buzz have grown in popularity. With character limits in tweets, status updates, and other modes of short form publishing, a shorter URL leaves more room to say what’s on your mind.
Google’s primary goal in making this service publicly available to all users is to harness Google’s global production infrastructure to provide users with the following benefits:
- Stability – reliable service with good uptime
- Security – warning message if the short URL points to a suspected malware, phishing, or spam website
- Speed – fast resolution of short URLs (in a few milliseconds)
Features
Goo.gl short URLs are randomly generated, and the mappings of short URLs to long URLs are publicly accessible. Additionally, the short URL to long URL mappings are:
- Immutable – once created by you, no one else can change them
- Irrevocable – once created, they do not expire. Note, however, that Google reserves the right to remove any goo.gl short URL, for example for spam, security or legal reasons
Google have recently integrated its short url service with Google Maps.
Privacy Feature By Google URL Shortener
The Google URL Shortener provides the following safeguards to address user privacy concerns:
- The goo.gl short URLs do not publicly reveal the identity of the user who created that URL mapping.
- The goo.gl short URL history for a user is accessible only when signed in using that Google Account.
- The analytics for all goo.gl short URLs are displayed in aggregate.[source]
Click here to install Google URL shortener extension of Google Chrome.
Mozilla Firefox add-on for Google URL Shortener is available here.
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