Why Google shut down its goo.gl URL shortener service in 2018 ?

URL shorteners have become popular on the web because very long web addresses are not easily shareable. They were both useful and fun.

Google launched their URL shortener in 2009 and added a third-party API, the ability to create QR codes and the power to link right to iOS and Android apps. Unfortunately, Google is Shutting down their URL Shortener service in the next year 2019. 

The Question is Why? They have many plans behind this. Google owns many other popular services in the market.

Firebase Dynamic Links

In the blog Google Developers blog, they says that the URL shortening service is going to be replaced with their Firebase Dynamic Links (FDL) as of April 13th. These new smart URLs let you send folks to any location within iOS, Android or web apps. The blog also says that you won't be able to create new goo.gl short links after the 13th April, but existing users can manage them via the goo.gl console for one year. After that, all the shortened links will still work, but you won't be able to access the console itself after March 30th, 2019. The company wants you to use the more app-centric Firebase Dynamic Links. Google suggests creating FDLs from now on or using other shortening services like Bitly and Ow.ly. Bitly has started welcoming the users of Google URL Shortener to their service. 

What are Dynamic Links ?

Google's replacement for goo.gl is Firebase Dynamic Links (FDL). They are a much more advanced form of deep linking, which allow a link to be automatically tweaked depending on who the user is, where they link from, and what hardware they are using. The same FDL link will work on desktop, mobile, even from within an app. The user experience will be seamless while behind the scenes the correct destination will be chosen at the time of the click, tap, or voice command.