Goo.gl URL – How to Find Out Where It Leads Without Visiting

goo.gllinksurl-shortening

goo.gl allows us to shorten URLs. For example, http://goo.gl/Y5VIoG will link to http://google.com

How can we determine what URL the goo.gl link points to without actually visiting it?

For example, how can we see that the link http://goo.gl/Y5VIoG points to http://google.com without actually clicking on it?

Is there an official way to do this (provided by Google instead of a 3rd party)?

Best Answer

Adding a .info after the URL will give you detailed analytics of the short URL, including:

  • The full URL being pointed to
  • QR Code
  • Number of clicks over various timeframes
  • Visitor information:
    • Referrers
    • Browsers
    • Platforms (Windows, et al.)
    • Country of origin

For instance: This question: http://goo.gl/e1kTPw.info

For a better example, here's the example link from Goo.gl Help: http://goo.gl/l6MS.info

(Note: Analytics for all goo.gl short URLs are publicly visible to all users.)

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