Link shortening has been a necessary tool as the Internet has expanded over the years, but Google is about to discontinue its version of shortened links adding another corpse to Google's graveyard, The Register reports that Google will discontinue its Google URL shortening in 2025 service will be shut down, it reports

Originally launched in 2009, the Google URL shortener was the tech giant's attempt to collect long links by feeding them into the shortener and generating smaller ones https://googgl/*

If you are not familiar with Google's version of the URL shortener If you are not familiar with the versions, more than likely you have seen bitly or TinyURL These tools typically cut long links in half or three-quarters, making them more manageable links that can be quickly sent via email or text

Google stopped using URL shorteners in 2018 and moved to Firebase Dynamic Links (FDL); FDLs are supposed to be smart URLs However, according to a note on Google's Firebase site, FDL is also set to close in 2025

At the time, Google stated that “all existing links will continue to redirect to their intended destination”

Google has not kept its promise, as the links are disappearing in August 2025

Google has not explained why they are shutting down the service altogether, other than perhaps they don't want to keep it Here is what they said in their blog post: [In 2018, we announced the deprecation of Google URL Shortener and the move to Firebase Dynamic Links This means that we will no longer accept new URLs to shorten, but will continue to serve existing URLs

It will slowly fade away: everything that uses googgl shortener will have an interstitial page warning that the link will disappear However, the link will return a 404 response when the shutdown officially occurs