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Google URL shortener available to the public

goo.gl

31–40 of 126 posts

Re: Google URL shortener available to the public

#31
post #9

Why do we need url shorteners again ? When I see a shortened URL the probabilities of me clicking the link go down to almost zero.

The QR code capacity is pretty flippin sweet. That's worth using all on its own.

If you just need a QR code just generate it directly and skip the shortener using e.g. http://qrcode.kaywa.com/.

You can also generate QR codes using the Google Charts API.

Re: Google URL shortener available to the public

#32
post #9

Why do we need url shorteners again ? When I see a shortened URL the probabilities of me clicking the link go down to almost zero.

Why is that? I'm assuming it's because when you see a link you check the URL to make sure you trust the location it's about to send you to. But surely this get's unscalable pretty quickly. Does it not?

Re: Google URL shortener available to the public

#34
post #9

Why do we need url shorteners again ? When I see a shortened URL the probabilities of me clicking the link go down to almost zero.

Judging only from how obsessively I check the bit.ly click-through stats on things I tweet, I think we'd probably be better off without them.

Re: Google URL shortener available to the public

#35

I know there's a plethora of URL shorteners these days, and most platform providers (eg: Twitter) are introducing their own so they can harvest analytics themselves. For whatever reason though, I keep trusting Google with all of my most personal information. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing, but I have a feeling this will become my standard URL shortener just as Google Apps has become my standard for email,…

This is a tangent but: how do you invoice customers with Google Apps?

Re: Google URL shortener available to the public

#36
post #9

Why do we need url shorteners again ? When I see a shortened URL the probabilities of me clicking the link go down to almost zero.

I had the same question. Until last week when I sent out a link to a google spreadsheet, and my awesome Navy Marine Corps Intranet Windows XP/Outlook 2007/Exchange system broke the link across two lines (but only after it was sent), and then every single recipient (about 100 physicians) said they couldn't see the document. I now use tinyurl.

Yeah, sending emails with absurdly-long links is just about the only use case I've found for URL shorteners. I find it particularly useful for links to Google Maps locations or direction sets.

Re: Google URL shortener available to the public

#37
post #7

Ugh. Google entering this pretty much wipes out the space - companies like bit.ly are going to need to work on seriously differentiating themselves from the pack, and even then I don't think they're long for the world. I can honestly say I hope to never be in a market - or working on a product - where google suddenly decides to enter the game. Even if their offering sucks, or is broken, it sucks all the air out of th…

Right now it looks like the companies are neck and neck. Each offering a 6 character prefix for urls. bit.ly good invest in R and D and try to get that number down a bit.

Re: Google URL shortener available to the public

#38

I wonder what the web will be like in 10 years when most of these URL shorteners don't exist anymore and we're just left with a web full of links that go nowhere. I'm sure the Google one will survive, seems like we shouldn't have to use these URL shorteners at all though.

There was some initiative to create an archive of shortened URLs if the provider were to close down. http://www.archive.org/details/301works. But looks like it did not gain much traction.

Re: Google URL shortener available to the public

#40
post #9

Why do we need url shorteners again ? When I see a shortened URL the probabilities of me clicking the link go down to almost zero.

Matt Cutts explains: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/goo-gl-url-shortener/

Q: Why are you doing this?

A: Google needed a url shortener for its own products where we knew the shortener wouldn’t go away. We also wanted a shortener that we knew would do things the right way (e.g. 301/permanent redirects), and that would be fast, stable, and secure.

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