Google launches URL shortener

Google launched a URL shortener that will complete with bit.ly, twet.ly, tiny.cc and others.

Goo.gl will serve the same purpose as the others to turn long URLs into short URLs, which is mighty helpful for posting on Twitter and other character restricted messaging systems.

The Google system will be different from many other URL shortners, in that it uses a 301 redirect (permanently moved) to redirect traffic to the destination web page. This will quite possibly have important ramifications for the professional SEO community. Additionally, since it is a Google product, Goo.gl could become part of the ranking algorithm and thus add some  influence into the real-time search results or other search factors. One consideration is that the URL shortener could influence Pagerank, as links (treated as votes, as originally intended) could come from other sources, such as social indexes.