# Replacing goo.gl links
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/replacing-goo-gl-links/347300
**Category:** Sysadmins
**Created:** [January 15, 2025, 5:52pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/replacing-goo-gl-links/347300 "2025-01-15T17:52:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2025, 5:52pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/replacing-goo-gl-links/347300/1 "2025-01-15T17:52:49Z")
`goo.gl` is shutting down (see [Google URL Shortener links will no longer be available [updated] - Google Developers Blog](https://developers.googleblog.com/en/google-url-shortener-links-will-no-longer-be-available/)). So links on your forum that include `goo.gl` links will be broken after August 25th, 2025.
I developed this script for a client. It took much, much longer than I billed him for and longer than I care to admit.
It finds all of the posts that contain `goo.gl` and then (if they aren’t `maps.app.goo.gl` or `maps.goo.gl`) attempts to replace them with the URL that `goo.gl` returns. It uses the post revisor, so you can see that it was updated and why and you can revert it if you want. I have tried to make it as failsafe as possible, but use at your own risk.
If you don’t know how to run this script, you probably should not do it yourself. If you need help making it work and have a budget, contact me or ask in #Marketplace.
If you use it and have suggestions for how to make it better, you please reply and/or edit it as you see fit.
```ruby
URL_CACHE ||= {}
def resolve_url_simple(short_url)
uri = URI.parse(short_url)
response = Net::HTTP.get_response(uri)
if response.is_a?(Net::HTTPRedirection)
response['location']
else
short_url # Return original if no redirection
end
rescue
short_url # Return original if there was an error
end
def resolve_url(short_url)
short_url.gsub!(/http:/,"https:")
# Check if the URL is already in the cache
return URL_CACHE[short_url] if URL_CACHE.key?(short_url)
begin
uri = URI.parse(short_url + "?si=1")
response = Net::HTTP.get_response(uri)
# Resolve the URL if it's a redirection
resolved_url = if response.is_a?(Net::HTTPRedirection)
response['location']
else
short_url # Return original if no redirection
end
sleep 1
# Store the resolved URL in the cache
URL_CACHE[short_url] = resolved_url
resolved_url
rescue
# Store the original URL in the cache in case of an error
URL_CACHE[short_url] = short_url
short_url
end
end
def replace_goo_gl_links(text)
goo_gl_regex = %r{(?<=^|[\[\]\(\)\s])(https?://)?goo\.gl(/[a-zA-Z0-9]+)+}
text.gsub(goo_gl_regex) do |match|
if match.include?('maps.app.goo.gl')
match
else
full_url = match.start_with?('http') ? match : "https://#{match}"
print "FIXING!!: #{match} -----> "
fixed = resolve_url(full_url)
puts fixed
fixed
end
end
end
def replace_all_goo_gl_links
system_user= User.find(-1)
goo_go = Post.where("raw LIKE '%goo.gl%'")
total_posts = goo_go.count
puts "Found #{total_posts} posts to check"
count = 0
goo_go.find_each do |post|
count += 1
# puts "Processing #{count}. #{Discourse.base_url}/t/#{post.topic_id}/#{post.post_number}"
print "."
# for reasons unclear, trying to update posts in these topics crashed rails
# next if [145478,64885,84408].include? post.topic_id
# find goo.gl links and the the URL to see what it redirects to
new_raw = replace_goo_gl_links(post.raw)
if new_raw != post.raw
revision_options = {
edit_reason: "Fix goo.gl links",
bypass_bump: true
}
begin
puts "Revising (#{count}/#{total_posts}) #{Discourse.base_url}/t/#{post.topic_id}/#{post.post_number}"
if !post.topic # posts in delted topics have no topic and break PostRevisor
post.topic = Topic.with_deleted.find_by(id: post.topic_id)
next if !post.topic
end
PostRevisor.new(post).revise!(system_user, raw: new_raw, **revision_options)
rescue => e
puts "cannot revise (number: #{count} #{Discourse.base_url}/t/#{post.topic_id}/#{post.post_number}): #{e}"
end
sleep 15
end
end
end
```
---
### Author:  [@Canapin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Canapin)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2025, 6:01pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/replacing-goo-gl-links/347300/2 "2025-01-15T18:01:57Z")
> [@pfaffman](#):
>
> if they aren’t `maps.app.goo.gl` or `maps.goo.gl`
Why exclude those? These links won’t break?
And thanks for this script. I returned posts that contain these shortened links on my forums, and there are a bunch that will need to be fixed then. 👍
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2025, 6:45pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/replacing-goo-gl-links/347300/3 "2025-01-15T18:45:06Z")
> [@Canapin](#):
>
> Why exclude those? These links won’t break?
Here’s what Google Maps is generating today: `https://maps.app.goo.gl/Qz14oUZQv9aHCCfg6`. I decided to guess that those domains they have decided to keep. 🤷
---
### Author:  [@Ed\_S](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ed_S)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2025, 11:11pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/replacing-goo-gl-links/347300/4 "2025-01-16T23:11:40Z")
I’m also seeing `https://goo.gl/maps` and `https://goo.gl/photos/` and expect those too will not be affected.
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2025, 11:15pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/replacing-goo-gl-links/347300/5 "2025-01-16T23:15:33Z")
I don’t know. If they work now without a warning then I’d say you’re right.
I’m pretty sure that the script tries to replace those.
---
### Author:  [@supermathie](https://meta.discourse.org/u/supermathie)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2025, 11:29pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/replacing-goo-gl-links/347300/6 "2025-01-16T23:29:31Z")
> [@Ed\_S](#):
>
> I’m also seeing `https://goo.gl/maps` and `https://goo.gl/photos/`
The page linked in the OP says:
> Note that goo.gl links generated via Google apps (such as Maps sharing) will continue to function.
so presumably, yes, they will continue to work. Especially if no interstitials show up.
Do you have specific ones you can post? Possibly `https://goo.gl/maps/ID` can be replaced with `https://maps.app.goo.gl/ID`, though it doesn’t work in the other direction.
Regardless, there’s probably no harm in replacing them?
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2025, 4:07pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/replacing-goo-gl-links/347300/7 "2025-01-17T16:07:11Z")
> [@supermathie](#):
>
> Regardless, there’s probably no harm in replacing them?
Hard to say. Probably?
> [@supermathie](#):
>
> Do you have specific ones you can post?
I’m trying not to spend another 5 hours on this 2 hour job, but here are a couple
`https://goo.gl/maps/bFFQr8eL4F62`
`https://goo.gl/maps/BPCy1us5GkJQ2zMX8` becomes
`https://www.google.com/maps/place/SUZUKI%E9%91%AB%E6%BD%A4%E8%BB%8A%E6%A5%AD-%E9%B4%BB%E5%AF%B6%E5%8F%B0%E5%8C%97%E6%97%97%E8%89%A6%E5%BA%97/@25.0488943,121.5803302,16.17z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x3442ab9666e0cf09:0x7be03675872f9c63!8m2!3d25.051748!4d121.5809526?shorturl=1`
So it’s probably safe to modify
```plaintext
if match.include?('maps.app.goo.gl')
```
to something like
```plaintext
if match.include?('maps.app.goo.gl') || match.include?('goo.gl/maps')
```
And maybe also add the pictures one.
And I also just learned that you also need to rebake posts that onebox the replaced URLs.
I think a proper rake task with some specs is probably in order, but I’ve already got at least 3X the hours in this job that I billed for it.
---
### Author:  [@supermathie](https://meta.discourse.org/u/supermathie)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2025, 8:23pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/replacing-goo-gl-links/347300/8 "2025-01-17T20:23:16Z")
I was only wondering if these were equivalent:
```plaintext
https://goo.gl/maps/bFFQr8eL4F62
https://maps.app.goo.gl/bFFQr8eL4F62
```
but this is _not_ the case.
All signs point to the former continuing to work anyways 👍
---
### Author:  [@Ed\_S](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ed_S)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2025, 3:49pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/replacing-goo-gl-links/347300/9 "2025-01-18T15:49:24Z")
> [@supermathie](#):
>
> Do you have specific ones you can post?
Here’s one
`https://goo.gl/photos/NBtTJoYjhrMqRdso9`
A quick test suggests google no longer creates short links like these, using the subdomains instead.
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2025, 12:13am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/replacing-goo-gl-links/347300/10 "2025-01-19T00:13:37Z")
> [@Ed\_S](#):
>
> A quick test suggests google no longer creates short links like these, using the subdomains instead
So it’s probably not bad that the script un-shortens them.
---
### Author:  [@mcdanlj](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mcdanlj)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2025, 11:21pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/replacing-goo-gl-links/347300/11 "2025-01-31T23:21:26Z")
I saw the `bypass_bump: true` and ran this thinking that it would not fill up my “Latest” view with hundreds of edits. But It is definitely filling up the “Latest” view. Happy to pay that price to fight link rot, but thought I’d give a heads-up to the next person.
It does turn out that “Reset bump date” takes them back out of the “Latest” view.