Should You Use URL Shorteners? Recently, the following happened to me, I wrote my regular weekly letter and posted it on my site. Since this was a long WordPress URL, like millions of other webmasters. I used a URL shortening service to make this link usable and manageable.
I sent this shortened URL to Twitter and put it in my weekly email… immediately I started getting emails from my subscribers and followers… the link doesn’t work, you must have made a mistake.
That can be easily done, but when I checked the link, I realized that the compression service was not working properly and was giving the dreaded “Page Not Found” response. To add to the problem, I was using the Free URL shortener and since it was Goo.gl everyone thought the error was on me. I mean Goo.gl is Google.
Before I was using bit.ly but I had switched to goo.gl, well – because it’s Google. And everything works better with Google. This was the first time that something I used with Google did not work as planned. And it wasn’t my links, none of the links with Goo.gl was working. No big loss, unless you were combining your Black Friday & Cyber Monday traffic through these shortcuts. Ouch.
A link shortener works by returning your short link to the long one you entered in their database. If this is a permanent 301 redirect, then your SEO benefits should go to your long link. No harm has been done. But if the shortening service uses a 302 temporary link then SEO is not passed on to your long link as search engines will only read this link as temporary.
All the top short URLs such as lnnkin.com, TinyURL, bit.ly, and lnnkin.com use 301 redirects so they are SEO friendly if they are working!
From this SEO point of view, there is no reason not to use these shortening services, unless they are good for sharing links and getting your links out there.
I just started using those short links because of Twitter which only gives you 140 characters to express your opinion. These shortcuts are also great for sharing and spreading your links across the web. However, somehow using a URL shortener is not a smart marketing move because you are giving up control of your link, putting it in someone else’s hands, in this case, Google.
If it goes down, or they choose not to link to your content for some reason, you’re in trouble. The same goes for bit.ly, they are managing your links. Maybe it doesn’t count as much if it’s a general link, but if you have an affiliate link in there, you can’t change it or change it.
Or imagine, you have 10, even 100,000 of these short links spread all over the web, bringing valuable SEO PR back to your site. Suddenly a service or company goes down and all your links disappear from the web overnight.
Websites and sites crash or change directions all the time, so the above scenario is not out of the question. If you are using and depending on these short services to deliver both traffic and SEO to your site, then you should ask yourself.
Is this really a wise move?
One of the unwritten rules of Internet Marketing is always to control your links and route them through your own domain that you control. Especially if you put these links in viral ebooks, articles, or videos… make sure you are linking via URL on your site. This way you can easily change the link if anything changes.
By using these URL shorteners, even one powered by Google, you are giving up control of your links. Fortunately, Google and TinyURL will probably be around for the foreseeable future and until last week. I didn’t hesitate to use their shortening service. Now I’m not sure about using their service and I question my use of these shortening services often, despite the great benefits they provide for your online marketing.
If you use one of these URL shorteners, make sure you check the service and its history before you start using it. Actually, if you’re going to use these shortcuts. It’s probably a good idea to use three or four of them so that all your eggs/links aren’t in one basket. Better safe than sorry.
Short links are all the rage on sites like Twitter. Do you want to know why people use short links? Or wondering how to make one yourself?
Short links make URLs easier to share and remember. Some URL shorteners allow you to monitor and analyze which ones are being clicked. It also gives you a way to protect your links and change them later. I can change my short link that points to it and send people to the new recommendation. All my short links will still work but they will point to Big Hosting B’s website instead.
How to shorten Link
Let’s consider two simple ways to summarize your links and the advantages of each.
1. Use a shortening service like
- https://bitly.com/
- https://www.lnnkin.com/
- https://tinyurl.com/
There are many websites that offer link shortening.
All of these are easy to use. Just copy and paste your URL shorteners into their shorten link box, click the button, and you’ll get your shortened link back.
The biggest downside of these links is that you don’t get back the domain name or shortened link so if the site disappears eventually your link won’t work anymore. You also cannot change the link later.
Another problem with some popular link shorteners is that because spammers use them to hide the URLs they are sending out. They can cause the email to be marked as spam. Do not use it in your newsletters or autoresponders.
However, they work well if you need a high-quality short link for a social network.
2. Run the script on your own domain
If you are using WordPress, the plugin GoCodes is an easy way to shorten links and keep control over them. It also gives you the ability to modify the link that is pointed to by the pointer. You can configure it like any other plugin. Go to “Plugins” then search for “GoCodes” then install and use.
This applies especially to affiliate marketers. If I recommend Big Website Host A now, I can create a short link to my recommended host. If next week, I find that there is something better and I decide to recommend Big Website Host B. so, I can change my short link that points to it and send people to the new recommendation. All my short links will still work but they will point to Big Hosting B’s website instead.
A similar option if you are not using WordPress is the free script Shorty. It creates short links on your URL. There are other options out there too so just search for free URL shortener scripts and compare your options.
Using your own domain as the basis of your short links allows you to continue building links to your website, and building your brand. It also makes the link less likely to have your newsletter or autoresponder viewed as spam.