If you have your own custom website, using a URL shortener is an effective way of making the links on your page appear more clean and aesthetically pleasing. Some URL shortener services also offer you ways to track your web pages when it comes to link sharing and online traffic.
With so many different URL shortener services available on the web, it can be difficult to choose the right one for your website. In this blog, I’m going to go over some of the best and most popular URL shortener services, what each provides, and how they can benefit your tracking and SEO efforts.
So, which URL shorteners to use in 2023? Let’s take a look.
What is a URL shortener?
A URL shortener is a service that allows you to shrink any long, messy URLs for your website into short, more aesthetically appealing URLS or ‘slugs’. Some URL shortening services also come with tracking tools, so you can easily monitor the amount of traffic or shares your links are getting on a daily basis.
Benefits of using URL shorteners
A URL shortener is a service that allows you to shrink any long, messy URLs for your website into short, more aesthetically appealing URLS or ‘slugs’. Some URL shortening services also come with tracking tools, so you can easily monitor the amount of traffic or shares your links are getting on a daily basis.
More visually appealing
Let’s face it, long, lengthy links full of numbers and symbols make us think of one thing: spam. Using a URL shortener is a great way to clean up your links and make your web pages seem more professional when they appear in the search bar. Shorter URLs are also easier for mobile users to access, and in general, they’re just more visually appealing than a big jumble of letters and numbers.
Can help monitor traffic
If you have a custom website, you’re probably tracking and monitoring traffic. Some URL shortening services allow you to monitor traffic for your website, so you can get an idea of how many people are sharing your links, and where. Having access to this information can help you improve your marketing strategies, by seeing where your content is most popular.
Easier to share
If your content is great, visitors are more likely to want to share your content with their social media audiences. However, are visitors going to feel compelled to share a link made up of thousands of characters? Most likely not. As I already said, long links connote spam and poor quality content. This is why a URL shortener is essential if you’re relying on organic traffic to boost your website hits. The more traffic you get to your site, the higher your Google ranking is likely to be.
Don’t forget that many sites also have character limits when it comes to sharing posts, such as Twitter, where the character limit is 280. You want to make your URL as compact as possible, so people can share your content organically without feeling like they’re promoting spam.
Will using an URL shortener help my SEO goals?
The answer to this question is slightly complicated. On the one hand, yes, URL shorteners are going to help your long-term SEO goals by making your content more shareable, and making your site more reader-friendly and easy to navigate. However, when used to disguise links and avoid nofollow tags, it can lead to spamming, which can lead to low user confidence.
A nofollow tag (typically seen in a URL as rel=”nofollow”) is a way for social media sites to indicate to Google not to consider the link authoritative when ranking pages. This is typically implemented to discourage the abuse of link sharing on social media, whereby users attempt to manipulate Google rankings by spamming on social media.
However, URL shorteners can often get past this, making it easier to redirect traffic to your website. While this can be used as a tactic to generate website traffic, it’s important not to forget that user trust is highly important when it comes to SEO. Promoting your content naturally – without spamming – is the best way to use URL shorteners.
Best URL Shorteners 2022
If you’re looking for a URL shortener to use for your website, here are some of the most popular URL shortening services, and what they offer:
Bit.ly – One of the most popular URL shorteners, Bit.ly allows you to create short, custom URLs for your website easily using a custom domain name. Bit.ly also allows users to monitor and track your links when it comes to shares and clicks.
Geniuslink – allows you to track important data, while also customising and shortening your URLs to reflect your custom domain name.
Tinyurl – Tinyurl was one of the first-ever URL shorteners on the web, and can still be used to shorten longer links. You can also customise your links to reflect any custom domain name.
SEO: the bigger picture
When it comes to seeing results from an SEO campaign, it’s important to note that URL shortening isn’t going to be the most determinative factor in increasing your ranking. In some cases, it might even simply be neutral. Successful SEO strategies need a combination of the following to truly be effective:
Backlinking
Backlinking is the backbone of SEO; backlinking shows that your page is an authoritative source when it comes to your keyword and website niche. Put simply, Google considers each backlink to your site to be a “vote of confidence” for your content. The more backlinks you have to your site (preferably from reputable sources), the higher your content is going to rank.
High quality content
It’s simple: poor quality content isn’t going to rank well, and it certainly isn’t going to convert (if your intent is commercial). Whether it’s poorly written content, or bad SEO practice (keyword stuffing, spamming redirects) ignoring the user experience is bad for SEO. User confidence is an important factor in building trust and credibility, and this begins by creating high-value content that is relevant to your target keyword searches. When you actually provide something of value to your readers, they’re more likely to share your content, revisit your website, or explore your other content. All of this boosts your engagement and helps SEO.
Professional SEO expertise
If you’re new to SEO and trying to rank your online content, it’s not a good idea to try to tackle your online strategy without expert help. You can maximise your gains and reduce time wasted by hiring an ecommerce SEO agency to help you navigate the process. An SEO agency will be able to offer expert advice, design a personalised SEO strategy that works for your business, and increase your conversions and sales.
The Bottom Line
So, is URL shortening worth it? In general, yes. It’s always a good idea to make your content more readable, and URL shorteners can help you monitor and track your shares, impressions, and ranking. Just make sure that you’re also implementing a well-rounded, comprehensive SEO strategy to accompany it.
Is a shorter URL better for SEO?
While longer URLs can still rank on Google, a shorter URL is more aesthetically appealing and is going to make your website appear more professional. When you use a URL shortener, you can also use target keywords as slugs, which can help make your content intentions clearer, making your site more user-friendly (and therefore improving your SEO by enhancing your site’s credibility).
Does your URL matter for SEO?
It depends. In general, your URL isn’t going to be the most important factor that plays into your SEO ranking. However, clean URLS can enhance your website readability and make it easier for users to navigate your website. The longer a reader remains on your website, the more Google considers your content to be high quality.
How do I make my URL SEO friendly?
The best way to make your URL SEO-friendly is to use a relevant keyword as the URL slug. This makes it easy to track and monitor the keyword ranking, and also enhances the user experience by making your site navigation easier.
