Google makes its URL Shortener service Goo.gl available for all

Google makes its URL Shortener service Goo.gl available for all

Google has launched Goo.gl, a website for its URL Shortener service that was first introduced in December 2009 as a part of Google Toolbar and FeedBurner and later integrated into many other Google products like News, Blogger, Maps, Picasa Web Albums and Moderator. The move will enable any one to use Goo.gl to shorten and track the URLs they share via social media sites and email.

Muthu Muthusrinivasan, a software engineer at Google, has said, “With Goo.gl, every time you shorten a URL, you know it will work, it will work fast, and it will keep working. You also know that when you click a Goo.gl shortened URL, you are protected against malware, phishing and spam using the same industry-leading technology we use in search and other products.”

“We have focused on making the service lean, but you will find some helpful features. If you sign-in to your Google Account, you will see a list of URLs you have shortened in the past. Click the ‘details’ link next to any of shortened URL and you will find public, real-time analytics data, complete with traffic over time, top referrers, and visitor profiles,” Muthu Muthusrinivasan has added.

According to Matt Cutts, head of Google’s Webspam team, Goo.gl has a secret Easter egg that allows anyone to take a link like http://goo.gl/LFwS and add “.qr” to get a QR code! Like http://goo.gl/LFwS.qr. A QR (Quick Response) code is a matrix barcode (two-dimensional square code), readable by QR scanners, mobile phones with a camera and smartphones.