Short URLs can and will be used for increasing domain ranking and it’s not just an SEO trick to use Short URLs.

Using Short links is a best practice.

by tyler garrett

Some url shortening services are simply important to know about as you learn more about web development Or digital marketing. Have fun!

  1. Goo.gl
  2. Ow.ly
  3. Bit.ly
  4. Wp.me
  5. Write.as
  6. Tiny.cc
  7. Is.gd
  8. Soo.gd
  9. Qr.net
  10. Gg.gg

End goal with writing about URL shortening is to key in on people who want to generate an online footprint. It’s free and easy to build a following. You need to start early, and this is one of many ways to do it.

Tweet me if you need help.

Pretend you’re the little kid from Pokemon, ash. Ash is competitive and likes collecting more Pokemon balls than other people, he would have enjoyed MySpace, friend request any Pokemon he wanted.

Well, now you’re a grown up City ash.

You’re this little box, little box 📦 ash.

A little red website who sells “red colorings of red boxes.”

You’re a practical red box lobster.

“Raaaah,” you say on Google+.

Red boxes are great i #love #red #boxes.

Then you post that on 4 different box loving google+ groups.

Four green little pokemon balls, you own them, they point back at your red-box-sales website. Following me so far?

(Oh hey, google.com links pointing at your website, blog, cat blog, red box store, pokemon backpack nightlight, etc… you can see 4 green circles and know those represent green links, you pasted in your google+ account. It’s just an app on your smartphone, laptop, or desktop. Google+ is free and builds organic traffic by increasing your ranking.)

Shortlinking for counting clicks.. *big yawn*

A shortlink counting service would tell you which of these 4 links is being clicked the most, what country, etc… giving you a quick view into your incoming traffic.

Wow, biggest yawn ever. This is boring. But, you need to know basics and that’s what this URL shortening wiki is all about. Teaching you the moves.

Mostly because…

The current mind set is to paste the same link over and over, wait a day or several days to get an update, aka google analytics & google webmaster tools. (Maybe you’ve never heard of either of these tools? They are essential to getting ranked on google and understanding user behavior on your website.)

It’s easy to add shortlinks to your typical social media output and boost your footprint quickly. I recommend adding a variety of shortlinks pointing at every web page you have ever generated, and share those on blogs, websites, comments, and with your mates on facebookinstagrammediumbloggerwordpresspinterest, etc.

Adding a shortlink to a social media post online

Adding a shortlink to your home page, as you add something hilarious on Facebook, is a bonus. Someone might click it. But google isn’t scraping private Facebook pages, or much of Facebook what so ever.

So, post again on google+ for example, like below:

It’s important to rank a website and get traffic on your website. Your website. Not someone else’s website.
Shortlinks, will help you rank.

With that said, let’s discuss URL shortening.

Google is good at counting shortened links

It counts how many quality links point at your website. So like the whiteboard above:

We can pretend — “5 links” a google robot counted.

🤖”five links”

If you’re a website with..

🤖”no links”

You aren’t selling boxes 📦.

Url shortening

Everyone says URL shortening is all about counting clicks, customizing your links, making links more actionable, etc.

What most people don’t tell you is that “shortlinks rank websites better.”

Ifyou want to know why people use URL shortening services, how I learned about URL shortening,…etc.

I wrote a little “url shortening wiki,” and hope to bridge an entrepreneurial gap with you today.

So, scroll beyond the list of link shortener services and read through the url shortening wik at the bottom of the blog. It helped me rank on google for complex terms and generates free leads.

Here’s the list of url shortening services – I’m going to explain below, show you what it looks like, and get you started.

#1) Google URL Shortener — www.goo.gl

Google URL Shortener Goo.gl is the ultimate of all short links services.

It’s currently one of the first “big names” to retire their service completely and progress it to a thing called “deep linking” — which essentially says, some people want to link you to their application, and not just a web page. I’m using goo.gl as the first example because it’s a good point to make, sometimes shortlink services stop! Google will continue the links, but some will not and it’s important to treat shortlink generation like a video game, otherwise it’s very boring and a bad investment of time.

Just because Goo.gl shortlink generating service is dead, does not mean you can not get Goo.gl shortlinks generated to help you diversify your SEO portfolio. It’s not the best solution, but find a friend or someone with access, and ask them for a couple of goo.gl links. Do it before March 13, 2019.

You can contact me, will be happy to build you a couple! Contact me at TylerGarrett.com or dev3lop.com.

What’s cool about this inactive service is that you will find out more about newer versions of the technology google is looking to implement in place of this service.

#2) Hootsuite’s — Ow.ly

Hootsuite acquired Ow.ly, I think, I don’t know. Ow.ly is easy, signup, they don’t spam you, go to your dashboard, the link builder is easy enough to click around and figure out — also you can schedule posts to social media here.

Ow.ly has been around for a bit and Hootsuite’s founder has a good story to go along with his success, which makes it cool to support the company by generating ow.ly links.

Hootsuite is a social media management platform, created by Ryan Holmes in 2008.[6]The system’s user interface takes the form of a dashboard, and supports social network integrations for TwitterFacebookInstagramLinkedInGoogle+ and YouTube.

Ow.ly is a short version of a link, that isn’t all that short, but what’s nice is it’s easy enough to generate a few links quickly, and that’s helpful.

#3) Bit.ly’s — Bit.ly

Bit.ly is a nice little link counter with a great interface for users who want to drive the needle. The other two click counters above are also helpful, powerful, but I think Bit.ly takes the overall cheese from a usability perspective.

If you’re in the market to spend a little money, I would start here, the free version works plenty and it’s the best option for customizing links currently.

Bitly is a URL shortening service and a link management platform. The company Bitly, Inc.was established in 2008. It is privately held and based in New York City. Bitly shortens 600 million links per month,[3] for use in social networking, SMS, and email. Bitly makes money by charging for access to aggregate data created as a result of many people using the shortened URLs.

Check out that link! bit.ly/sentiment-Analysis > 43 clicks!

I posted it directly to a twitter post, aiming at increasing the conversion.

 

I posted it on LinkedIn too. Here’s the data Bit.ly captures.

This post went viral on twitter.

Without bit.ly, I would not be able to understand what links are being clicked.

Check out the data coming from Twitter.

Bit.ly counted 1 less than twitter.

Impressions on twitter and link counts.

1705 impressions, 14 engagements, 15 or 14 total clicks going to the blog post about Sentiment Analysis.

The math offers conversion rate based on my output. I can start catering my content to be more like this post, as it worked more than other posts, which I was able to quickly identify and check with bit.ly.

#4) Tinyurl’s — Tinyurl.com

Tinyurl offers a shortlink service similar to others but with less of a sexy gui wrap. They offer a python version which enables you to auto generate shortlinks.

tinyurl.com isn’t pretty but it gets the job done.

Follow along and learn how to automate making shortlinks with python using tinyurl’s code library.

#4) WordPress’s — “Get Shortlink”

WordPress has an option to generate a shortlink when you’re in the editing mode on your post. If you don’t have a couple WordPress blogs, you may want to know that it’s free and a cool place to learn about blogging.

Example: https://datawebme.wordpress.com/

WordPress allows you to generate a free website within their “WORDPRESS.com” domain! It’s called a subdomain but let’s not get into that today.

Here’s a blog at TylerGarrett.com, just below the TITLE you see the Permalink? To the far right of that link is a “Get Shortlink” button.

Blog post for finding and replacing text or numbers in a csv using python.

If you open the “Get Shortlink” ->https://wp.me/p9TjFw-ey

A shortlink from wordpress!!!

Highlight that text and copy paste it as your next link to this blog!

Shortlink from wordpress!!

How to make a wp.me backlink.

If you’re looking to learn how to generate a WP.me backlink, above should help you understand that the base install of wordpress will have that button available. Also, the free version of wordpress @ wordpress.com allows you to do a similar workflow!

You can find it while you’re generating your first post! It’s easy to start, and don’t pay for anything at the start!

  1. Post settings
  2. Expand Sharing
  3. Copy wp.me link: https://wp.me/p7oMd2-2V
Finding shortlink in the free wordpress subdomain.

If you don’t have a wordpress blog, get one! You can reblog your content there, use the tags efficiently, and people will be able to find your content on the other medium/social-platform.

#5) Write.as’s — Write.as application

Write.as is a simple text input that makes webpages + links.

You can use it to keep track of your links and it’s free!

I’m throwing it in here because you can use it to be a sort of “landing page” of your signature links.

Write.as offers a place to save your shortlinks!

Example: https://write.as/i4cacvabpxn81

Also, write.as sort of looks like a shortlink.

#6) Tiny’s — Tiny.cc URL shortener

Tiny.cc is not the most attractive URL shortening service and it works.

I like this service because it offers a free custom link builder.

You don’t need to customize like this…

Example: http://tiny.cc/Find-replace-text-python

You can also use their “native” link.

I enjoy the size of this link, tiny.cc must be relatively new!

Check out the size of the link: http://tiny.cc/0566wy

More from Tiny.cc, and how they recommend using tiny urls.

One of their pitches:

“Measure the conversions for links and understand your traffic with Tiny’s statistics. We can help grow your audience and increase traffic. Shorten a link for your ad campaign and track it. Hide a link. Have an address that you don’t want to reveal… such as an affiliate link? Cloak and redirect it — the recipient will only see a short address containing the tiny.cc domain. Make a link to your online survey or invitation. And Tiny has more advanced tools such as a traffic filter that is perfect for marketing, surveys or research projects.”

#7) Is.gd’s — Is.gd a URL Shortener. Mmmm, tasty URLs!

Is.gd offers a free URL Shortener and it’s nothing crazy, until you see the stats!

is.gd is a simple URL “compression” lol

Shortening 1,298,339,529 URLs
That have been accessed 63,903,074,539 times

Crazy numbers, 63 billion accesses. A little math will explain to you how heavily used is.gd appears to be!

Example: https://is.gd/Lv9afP

Also, you can add custom keywords in your link. To generate link, with a keyword.

Custom links with “your shortened url”

Example: https://is.gd/successful_people

#8) Soo.gd’s — It’s more than just a URL shortener service.

It’s a short link service. I like their webpage title though!

Nothing pretty and it works!

Shortening links at Soo.gd is quick and easy, not sexy!

It offers a custom suffix and allows you to edit on top of that custom coded suffix.

Example: http://soo.gd/meoW

Soo meow.

Soo.gd appears to let you generate custom links, which is another plus if you’re looking to pad your keywords into your shortlink.

http://soo.gd/meoW

#9) QR.net’s — QR.net shortlink service, Create your QR code with statistics

If you need a funny looking square code thing, this offers that functionality.

If you want to walk through a process of generating an account to generate a link, it is a next step to build a qr.net link.

Example: https://qr.net/NvuTLp

Shortlinks available once you signup. It took me <1min to signup and copy the shortlink and test that it works!

QR.net is a QR code service by QR GmbH. The QR GmbH was founded in 2011 and is specialized in QR codes.

The main focus lies on the surplus value for our users. Here you create a dynamic QR code unlike many simple solutions. We offer many advantages: For example you can change the target URL of your QR codes later and view detailed statistics about the QR code calls. Our QR codes are optimized so that they can easily be printed and captured.

Examples: https://qr.net/NvuTLphttps://qr.net/Mo3tb2

#10) Gg.gg’s — URL Shortener — URL Shortening Service

GG.gg is the fastest and easy way to share (so they say on their website), save, track your links. You can use GG.gg via our website or you can download GG.gg browser extentions. You can create also custom short url if You wanna get easy to remember url. GG.gg uses powerful webservers so all Your links works extremly fast.

Nothing pretty and it works!

Example: http://gg.gg/bg505

If you need to diversify, give gg.gg a try!

So, here’s the wiki on url shortening. Scroll down to learn more.

In my url shortening wiki you will learn about:

  1. The basics of shortening links
  2. Why you should shorten links

I learned about link shortening… while frustrated.

Here’s my durp face.

Entrepreneur, loaded on coffee, competitive, and good with data — I took to Search Engine Optimization like a fish in water.

I learned about shortlinks and all the different short link services, and the ranking power associated to these shortlinks, while beating several major companies in google ranking.

Was eager to start a family, needed to learn how to drive traffic, and I noticed google keeps track of links from shortlink websites.

Learning about URL shortening was primarily for SEO purposes because it was important to beat others in ranking to build dev3loptylergarrett.com, and musicblip.com.

Before you get started, I recommend you try to treat building short links, tiny urls, and short link services.. like a game!

Gotta catch em all.

You need to get all the short links, all of them, gotta catch em all, and hope your pokemon ball doesn’t break.

Sometimes pokemon balls break, the link breaks, which means you need to choose what pokemon ball store you buy from.

If a shortlink service decides to stop providing the service, you might lose your links pointing at your domain. Let’s discuss everything in more granularity below.

Okay, last thing about pokemon and shortlinks.

The game requires you to run around, and capture pokemon, as a collection.

If you collect a lot of shortlinks, pointing at your blog, website, service page, or content online that you want to RANK higher. You will rank higher. Shortlinks carry a lot of SEO power and help you boost your ranking on searches such as GoogleBingYahoo, etc…

Drake is catching a lot of links making rad music.

Why do I even shortlink?

  1. Shortlinks make big links less ugly.
  2. If you send someone a long link, they will think you are crazy.
  3. A shortened version of a URL can generate data.
  4. Shotened URLs offer customization, increasing click chances!
  5. Because you want to rank a URL higher on a search engine. (most of you)

The basics of shortlinks and why people shortlink.

You will send someone that big link…

“Hey John, here’s that link- https://www.google.com/search?q=dogs+swimming+cute&rlz=1C1MSNA_enUS803US803&oq=dogs+swimming+cute&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.2255j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

You might not know this but John hates you right now.

It’s not your fault, you may have never seen a shortlink service or even know how people generated tiny links. Luckily, you’re wise and eager to learn how to keep John’s happy.

Oh, and next time, just send John the damn picture.

Aww cute picture, deserves a cute link. I won’t link to this page because it’s garbage with click bait and viruses. Who doesn’t love the internet.

Okay, if you made it this far, you’re probably interested in understanding the basics and “why would someone use a shortlink?”

Cute dog pictures aside. Let’s get started.

Did this catch your attention? At least read the following if you’re trying to learn about link shortening, and why people even…

Use shortlinks, tinyurls, link shortening, etc. if you want people to…

You will use shortlinks if you want people to…

be your friend.

to click your link.

buy you a birthday gift.

read your ‘coaching’ blog.

listen to your damn remix.

funnel to your email scheme.

Or come to your band’s show.

Or download a PDF about getting rich quickly.

Now, you’re a complete link shortening genius and writing down all the great reasons to use a little link, tiny url, whatever!!!

Quiz: is this link below short?

This link is long and ugly: https://medium.com/@itylergarrett.tag/the-basics-of-sentiment-analysis-an-intro-to-python-sentiment-automation-69808679dfd7 AND UGLY.

Answer: this link is not short.

The next link is short…

This link is shortened: http://bit.ly/sentiment-Analysis

Short links are better.

Short links are better when you need to show off the link.

Shortlinks are better because they are inviting, explains what you get, and doesn’t look like spam.

Also, if there’s a service to capture the amount of clicks, we could identify the same link two times on 1 website, email, etc… To understand what people click the most.

A story: I applied to hundreds of jobs and had a link to my portfolio. It wasn’t until I started learning about shortlinks, where I was able to understand if people speaking to me, read my resume, and if they did read my resume, what links did they click in my resume. Without knowing your audience and their habits, how are you expected to convert the user to a customer, check if your employee clicked on a link you sent them, or question people reading your resume because they clearly didn’t click to see your portfolio… Hmmm…

Let’s start building short links!

Free shortlink generators or URL shorteners are free, free of course because why would I pay for a redirect!?

You can build your own version of small URLS on your domain rather easily with most web developer tools/plugins.

But you can also use one or several shortlink tools available online. It typically takes 2 to 5’clicks and boom you have a shortlink!

You can make our own short links on your domain. But this stuff works too.

For example, I used to rank on Tableau Consulting in 140 countries, in the top 5 on google. I learned about shortlinks while trying to catch up to all the cheating happening in these searches.

Using shortlinks is a strategic way to beat cheaters, Each link is a +1, and google keeps track of what people are clicking on in your article — but without a different link, to count, how can I tell you clicked on this link, or this link to our tableau consulting squeeze page?

It’s important to diversify the links,..

Because google counts these as direct links pointing at your domain, every link is a +1. Your competitor only cares about links, not where it’s coming from, so the outlier is, don’t cheat like them!

The google algorithm is programmed by measuring the amount of links out there. Every link takes them to a new source of data, a new page of html. The shortlink service or URL shortener offers you the ability to generate a link that takes you wherever you program the traffic to go.

Generally, 🤖these shortlinks last forever. If the webmaster or creator of the service decides to kill it, all of the links die. It’s a risk — so play with caution and excitement.

Finding a shortlink service that works, is like running into a digital kind of pokemon, and you gotta catch’em all. Some will escape, buy better poke balls.

Did you enjoy the comprehensive list of shortlink generator services?

Hopefully you enjoyed the list, if you’re looking to learn more about things I blog about, check out dev3lop.com.