Google launched an URL shortening service in September 2010 called
goo.gl. Originally the service was used internally to pass links within
Google, but the service was expanded to include external links as well...What Is An URL Shortener?
URL shorteners are short Web addresses that redirect to the longer,
full URL. (That stands for Universal Resource Locator - it just means
the website address, like http://google.about.com)
When all goes well, the experience of visiting a short URL is
virtually seamless for the end user. They click on a link, and they get
redirected to their intended destination. The most common place to see
shortnened URLs is in Twitter where character limits make it difficult
to list the full address to websites...
Goo.gl Features
Goo.gl allows you enter a long URL and have it create a shortened
version. All URL shorteners allow you to do that. It also creates a
dashboard of URLs as you go, so you can see your existing links and
avoid duplication.
Those existing links also get analytics. You can see when you created
the link, how many people have clicked on it, and a few more details.
You can also hide existing URLs from your dashboard. This only hides
them. It doesn't disable the redirect...
