Is goo.gl legit?
While goo.gl benefits from strong infrastructure and reputation due to its association with Google, several red flags, particularly legal page deficiencies and an HTTP 400 error, prevent it from being fully trusted. Users should exercise some caution, especially regarding its core functionality as a link shortener.
Software & Downloads average: 80/100 · based on 75 sites
Checked: April 28, 2026 at 5:28 AM UTC
Is goo.gl a scam? Here's what we found.
The site boasts a robust security posture with modern TLS 1.3, HSTS, Content Security Policy, and clickjacking protection, though a relatively short SSL certificate expiry window is a minor concern.
Its age of over 20 years and association with Google, a reputable registrar, provide a strong sense of established identity, despite generic WHOIS information.
Being one of the most visited global websites and having a clean record with Google Web Risk and DNS blacklists indicates an excellent reputation.
Lack of contact information, social media presence, and crucially, an HTTP 400 error status seriously hinder transparency and user access.
The complete absence of legal pages like a privacy policy or terms of service presents a significant compliance and trust issue, which is highly unusual for a site of this scale.
The site has solid DNS configuration with multiple IP addresses and Google name servers, along with strong email authentication (SPF/DMARC), ensuring reliable foundational infrastructure.
Signals Detected
This is one of the most visited websites globally
No structured data markup found
Resolves to: 2a00:1450:4001:c0f::8a, 2a00:1450:4001:c0f::71, 2a00:1450:4001:c0f::64, 2a00:1450:4001:c0f::65, 142.251.110.100, 142.251.110.139, 142.251.110.113, 142.251.110.138, 142.251.110.102, 142.251.110.101
No MX records found — domain may not handle email
Domain has SPF email authentication configured
Domain has DMARC email authentication configured
DNS providers: ns4.google.com., ns3.google.com., ns2.google.com., ns1.google.com.
Valid certificate, expires in 55 days
Certificate issued by Google Trust Services
Connection uses TLS 1.3
This business has no Trustpilot presence — not unusual for smaller or newer companies
Site has a favicon but no social sharing metadata
No sitemap found — common for smaller sites
Site enforces HTTPS via HSTS
Site has Content Security Policy configured
X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN
Web server: ESF
No threats detected by Google Web Risk
No robots.txt file — common for small sites
Domain created 2005-06-22T02:00:00.0Z (20 years, 1 months ago)
Registered through MarkMonitor, Inc.
Expires in 248 days
DNSSEC status from WHOIS
Website returned status 400
No obvious contact information found on homepage
No privacy policy or terms of service found
No social media links found on homepage
Not found on any DNS blacklists
Could not query Wayback Machine
Could not query certificate transparency logs
Fast page load
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