Google retracts plan to disable goo.gl short links – Why Google couldn't kill goo.gl

1. The Day the Supposedly "Ended" goo.gl Regained Attention

Introduced in 2009, Google's URL shortener "goo.gl" once dominated Twitter and blogs with its overwhelming share. Although new issuance was halted in 2019, rendering it a "relic of the past," a single sentence posted on the developer blog on July 18, 2024, sent shockwaves through the web world: "After August 25, 2025, all goo.gl links will cease to respond."Google Developers Blog.

This announcement was quickly reported by The Verge and ITmedia, spreading ripples with headlines like "15 Years of Links Will Die" and "Historical Materials Will Be Buried in Darkness." Google explained that "over 99% had zero access in 30 days, making the maintenance cost unjustifiable," but the fate of the vast number of links embedded in academic papers, government documents, and YouTube descriptions remained uncertain.

2. SNS Boils Over—Growing Distrust and Archiving Fever

Immediately after the announcement, Reddit's /r/DataHoarder was flooded with posts like "Another Dead Web Increases" and "Google's Promises Can't Be Trusted"Reddit. The digital archiving organization ArchiveTeam called for "crawling the entire link text," and on Bsky, Altmetric warned that "link rot is academia's nightmare"web-cdn.bsky.app. Domestically, Gigazine discussed "the risk of entrusting public infrastructure to the private sector" and introduced pros and consGIGAZINE.

Underlying these reactions is the distrust towards "Killed by Google," which repeatedly ends services from Google Reader to Stadia. Since URL shorteners are external redirects, the web's structure can be broken at the provider's convenience. There were numerous suggestions that "a public archive or at least a redirect list should be provided before stopping."

3. The Washington Post's Criticism and the Disease of "Link Rot"

In an article dated August 1, 2025, The Washington Post harshly criticized, "Killing millions of links at once is a betrayal of web culture." Harvard University's Jack Cushman and ODU's Michael L. Nelson commented, "Links are the connective tissue of the internet. The lost informational value is immeasurable."The Washington Post.

In fact, a 2013 study cited by the paper found that about 50% of links included in U.S. Supreme Court decisions had become invalid over 20 years. The cessation of goo.gl is expected to accelerate "link rot," potentially undermining academic and legal reliability, the analysis concludes.

4. Google's "Partial Retraction"—Remaining Links, Surviving Links

Then, on August 1, 2025, Google announced a change in direction. According to Jay Peters of The Verge, the "compromise plan" is to maintain URLs with click records as of the end of 2024, and only inactive links already marked with a "dying in August" warning will be 404'd.

According to internal sources, requests from research institutions and governments poured in, leading to the judgment that "a complete shutdown would damage brand image." However, millions of links are still expected to expire, and ArchiveTeam is rushing to improve tools, stating, "The challenge is how much can be captured in the last 24 days."

5. Transition and Preservation: Three Steps Users Should Take

1. Transition to Alternative Shortening Services
   Options include established services like Bitly and TinyURL, as well as open-source YOURLS. However, self-hosted types require running costs and maintenance.

2. Securing Permanent Links
   When citing in courts or papers, use Perma.cc or Internet Archive's "Save Page Now" to ensure access to URIs even after redirects disappear.

3. Searching and Bulk Replacing goo.gl in Your Site
   For WordPress, use WP-CLI; for GitHub Pages, create a list with regex replacement, archive the list management file once, and then make corrections to prevent mishaps.

6. How to Face the "Crumbling Web"

Google's "partial retraction" may seem user-friendly, but essentially it only postpones the problem of "privatization of corporate infrastructure." The web is fundamentally dynamic, and URIs and content are not eternal. However, this is precisely why the will to uphold the "promise" of links is necessary.

This uproar raised the question of whether the private sector should monopolize links as digital public goods. It could be an opportunity for libraries, archives, developer communities, and platform operators to collaborate and build a "resilient web" both technically and institutionally. The remaining goo.gl links will likely serve as a touchstone for this effort.

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