Google Developer Blog:
We’re turning down support for goo.gl over the coming weeks and replacing it with Firebase Dynamic Links (FDL). FDLs are smart URLs that allow you to send existing and potential users to any location within an iOS, Android or web app. We’re excited to grow and improve the product going forward. While most features of goo.gl will eventually sunset, all existing links will continue to redirect to the intended destination.
And:
Starting April 13, 2018, anonymous users and users who have never created short links before today will not be able to create new short links via the goo.gl console. If you are looking to create new short links, we recommend you use Firebase Dynamic Links or check out popular services like Bitly and Ow.ly as an alternative.
If you have existing goo.gl short links, you can continue to use all features of goo.gl console for a period of one year, until March 30, 2019, when we will discontinue the console.
I can only imagine there’s a subtlety to this change, something that brings traffic through Google in a more useful manner than goo.gl did.
A possible clue:
URL Shortener has been a great tool that we’re proud to have built. As we look towards the future, we’re excited about the possibilities of Firebase Dynamic Links, particularly when it comes to dynamic platform detection and links that survive the app installation process.
Interesting. Have to learn more about Firebase Dynamic Links.
I don’t think there is anything particularly nefarious about this. Firebase Dynamic Links supersede simple URL shortening, so there is no reason for Google to support both. With Firebase links you can link to different things based on the device the user is using, so on a computer you can direct to your website, but from mobile devices you’d direct to an app.
“I remember the old days when you could look at a URL and have at least some vague idea what the hell it linked to…”
(Likewise, the last thing I want is “links that take me directly to an app”, pretty much ever. No. No. No.
I do not want your awful app. I don’t even want your nice app.
I want a webpage. That works.)