Google has opened its goo.gl URL shortener to the whole internet.
Previously the service had only been available on its own sites or via its browser tools, but now anyone can shorten any URL at the goo.gl web page.
The service lets you track shortened URLs via a Google account and provides some analytics such as traffic and top referrers. Unlike some other shorteners, it doesn’t allow for custom links nor does it have an API, to allow Twitter clients to use it, for example, though Google says it is working on it.
Google says the key to its shortener is not features but fidelity.
“We don’t intend to overload goo.gl with features, but we do want it to be the stablest, most secure, and fastest URL shortener on the web,” said Google software engineer Muthu Muthusrinivasan.
To that end, goo.gl uses Gmail’s powerful filtering system to keep out spam and malware links.
