Google URL Shortener Links Will Return a 404 Response

In 2018, Google replaced its URL shortener service, goo.gl, with Firebase Dynamic Links, citing 'the changes we've seen in how people find content on the internet, and the number of new popular URL shortening services that emerged in that time.' Although it stopped accepting new URLs to shorten, it continued to serve existing URLs that used their service. That's about to change on August 25th, 2025, when Google will turn off the service portion of Google URL Shortener.

'Any developers using links built with the Google URL Shortener in the form https://goo.gl/* will be impacted, and these URLs will no longer return a response after August 25th, 2025,' says Google in a blog post today. 'Starting August 23, 2024, goo.gl links will start displaying an interstitial page for a percentage of existing links notifying your users that the link will no longer be supported after August 25th, 2025 prior to navigating to the original target page. Over time the percentage of links that will show the interstitial page will increase until the shutdown date.' All links will return a 404 response after the shutdown date.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.