The publicly available goo.gl URL shortener isn't going away, but Google has announced it will start using g.co for short URLs pointing to its own web pages.

While .co is the ccTLD (country code top level domain) for Colombia, it is being marketed as an alternative to .com with the advantage of being one character shorter. .co domains cost less than $15 per year, depending on the registrar.

Registration policies are very liberal, so there is no need for the applicant to prove who they are. This is in marked contrast to domains such as .com.au.

One problem with URL shorteners is that they make it easy to spread malicious links - malicious in the sense that the destination pages are used for purposes such as malware distribution or phishing, or that they contain content that the recipient might not want to see.

Google vice president of consumer marketing Gary Briggs said the company will be the sole user of g.co, and that g.co links will only point to Google-owned pages.

The decision to operate g.co may be linked to the increasing use of traditional media advertising by Google, including TV and outdoor. Short URLs may be more memorable.