Google Link Shortener

Link shortening services provide a useful tool for internet users who need to control the presentation of their links and keep statistics on visitors. Link shorteners are commonly used by users of Twitter and other social networking services, internet marketers and other power users. Google offers a link shortener based on the domain goo.gl.

Google's link shortener

goo.gl, the Google link shortener, offers a number of useful features. Google users can access a listing of their short URL history as well as click-tracking statistics for their short links. URLs for short links take the form "goo.gl/XXXXX", where the resource specifier of the link is a five-character code. These short URLs save characters for services, including Twitter, which limit the lengths of postings and conceal long, unwieldy or unsightly link URLs. Statistics available for link tracking include traffic source, referrer headers and visitor breakdowns by country, platform and web browser.

Access and extensions

The Google link shortener is accessible from the web at goo.gl, as well as through the Google Toolbar and other Google products. An extension for Google Chrome provides access to the link shortener from the browser toolbar. The service also offers an API, enabling other applications and services to reach link-shortening functionality.

Link shorteners are an important part of today's internet. goo.gl provides a convenient service for Google users and fans of the Chrome web browser and provides a wealth of link-tracking and visitor statistics to help webmasters and internet marketers make the best use of their links.