• Home
  • My Products
  • Reviews
  • WordPress
  • Learning
  • Things to Avoid

Marketing With Vladimir

Welcome to my Internet marketing laboratory

You are here: Home / Learning / Are URL Shorteners Really Useful?

Are URL Shorteners Really Useful?

June 26, 2015 8 Comments

Are URL Shorteners Really Useful?

Until recently I was convinced that when sharing links to Twitter it’s mandatory to use URL shorteners to make the posts shorter. I’m sure that I’m not the only person that was confused by this misconception.

Twitter

Did you know that URL shorteners are not actually shortening anything when used with Twitter? Since 2011, Twitter implemented their own shortening service, therefore services such as bit.ly are no longer necessary.

According to their help center, any shared link of any length will be automatically shortened to a http://t.co link. So, any link within tweets will take 23 characters out of the maximum of 140 characters length limit, even if the original link is shorter than 23 chars.

Now, let’s think a little bit: why would you share a shortened URL on Twitter anyway? I would consider only two possible reasons:

  • making a really ugly and long link look prettier, or
  • keeping track of click metrics.

Anyway, Twitter is giving now excellent statistics about the tweets on their statistics page, therefore the usage of other URL shortening services is no longer necessary. So, the second reason is kinda busted.

I can give you another reason for not using third party URL shorteners. A reader that clicks on a plain link inside your tweet is redirected only once by Twitter. But if you use a third party URL shortener, the visitor is redirected twice, first by Twitter and then by the third party shortening service, hence, an additional network round-trip.

As a side note, the use of full links without shorteners could be more appealing for visitors. I didn’t run any test in this respect, but others did (Woops! Link no longer available, sorry 🙁 ).

What about analytics?

According to this post, there is another danger, namely skewing Google Analytics reports, which are far more important than the simple statistics offered by, say, bit.ly. The clicks coming from a shortened link within a tweet is reported as direct rather than coming from Twitter, so basically, you lose the ability to correctly track the source of the traffic! But if you use plain links, GA will see Twitter traffic as coming from t.co.

Facebook

What about Facebook, another major social platform? Well, Facebook doesn’t use automatic URL shortening, but due to a more generous length of posts, the use of long URL’s isn’t really an issue.

But Still I Want to Shorten my URLs

If for some reason you still want to shorten your shared links, tag them before shortening using campaign tagging parameters.

Tagging combined with a shortener might be a smart approach. To properly tag an URL I recommend using the Google URL builder. You may use any information, but “Campaign Source” field should be filled with the social network name where you are planning to share the shortened link.

Read the referred article for more details.

Conclusion

The URL shorteners are not really useful, but if you decide to use them, tag your links before shortening, otherwise you’ll find yourself in the situation of not being able to get proper analytics of your traffic. You have to consider, as well, that the use of URL shorteners might, in fact, lower the click-through rate.

Read Also:

  • twitter-traffic
    How to Use Twitter to Drive Traffic to Your Blog

    No matter what others are saying, Twitter is a great traffic source, period. In this article I'll reveal to you a…

  • Google Search
    How to Rank on Page One of Google - the Simple Way

    Everybody wants to rank their articles on page 1 of Google, that's a fact, but most of SEO gurus are over-complicating the…

  • twitter-traffic
    How to Use Twitter to Drive Traffic to Your Blog

    No matter what others are saying, Twitter is a great traffic source, period. In this article I'll reveal to you a…

About Vladimir

I have a solid background in computer networking and programming. I recently started to develop applications related to internet marketing.

« Solved: “Maximum execution time of 30 seconds exceeded”
Time Management, the Key to Creation of a Successful Information Product »

Comments

  1. Adrian Jock says

    December 16, 2015 at 12:52 am

    Thanks for resharing my article about lame subject lines. Re your article – there are 23 chars per link, not “about 20” 🙂

    Reply
    • Vladimir Unguru says

      December 16, 2015 at 11:20 am

      You’re welcome! And you’re right about 23 chars per link. I already made the correction, thank you.

      Reply
  2. https://www.linkedin.com/ says

    December 6, 2018 at 8:46 pm

    Hey I know this is off topic but I was wondering if you knew of any widgets I could add
    to my blog that automatically tweet my newest twitter updates.
    I’ve been looking for a plug-in like this for quite some time and was hoping maybe
    you would have some experience with something like this. Please let
    me know if you run into anything. I truly enjoy reading your blog and I look forward to your new updates.

    Reply
    • Vladimir Unguru says

      December 9, 2018 at 6:08 pm

      Hi, I was browsing through the list of spam comments and just discovered yours, and I think it worth being reconsidered as non-spam.

      So, if I understand well your issue, you need a solution to automatically tweet your content. I recommend you to visit the article below, maybe you’ll find it useful:

      How to Auto Post Your Content to Facebook, Google+, Twitter and LinkedIn

      Reply
  3. World Vision Việt Nam says

    July 4, 2019 at 6:52 am

    Hi would you mind sharing which blog platform
    you’re working with? I’m looking to start my own blog soon but I’m having a hard time making a decision between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal.
    The reason I ask is because your design seems different then most blogs and I’m
    looking for something unique. P.S Sorry for being off-topic but I
    had to ask!

    Reply
    • Vladimir Unguru says

      July 9, 2019 at 9:07 pm

      I’m using WordPress. I’m sorry, I’m not familiar with the others. Even so, I recommend you WordPress due to one big reason: it’s the most popular blogging platform and as a result there is a huge community out there that can help you if needed.

      PS: sorry for the late answer, I dug your comment from the SPAM folder.

      Reply
  4. www.themix.org says

    July 8, 2019 at 3:35 am

    Interesting blog! Is your theme custom made or did
    you download it from somewhere? A design like yours with a few
    simple adjustements would really make my blog stand out.

    Please let me know where you got your theme. Appreciate it

    Reply
    • Vladimir Unguru says

      July 9, 2019 at 9:18 pm

      Hi, it’s a Genesis Framework child theme with some modifications. The original theme is free (Amazing Times).

      Reply

Leave a Reply to Vladimir Unguru Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


Recent Reviews

  • 24 Hour Profits – Review and Case Study

    24 Hour Profits – Review and Case Study

  • New Ultimate Stock Photos Package with MRR – Review

    New Ultimate Stock Photos Package with MRR – Review

  • CB Passive Income Review – A Fully Functional Free Version Included

    CB Passive Income Review – A Fully Functional Free Version Included

  • A Simple Way to Monetize your WordPress Blog – Content.Ad Review

    A Simple Way to Monetize your WordPress Blog – Content.Ad Review

  • The Bloggers Roadmap – Honest User Review

    The Bloggers Roadmap – Honest User Review

Recent Posts

  • How to Cancel All Friend Request Sent on Facebook in One Click

    How to Cancel All Friend Request Sent on Facebook in One Click

  • How to Auto Post Your Content to Facebook, Google+, Twitter and LinkedIn

    How to Auto Post Your Content to Facebook, Google+, Twitter and LinkedIn

  • Two Ways to Make YouTube Videos Responsive in WordPress

    Two Ways to Make YouTube Videos Responsive in WordPress

  • Subdomains vs Subfolders Usage Comparison

    Subdomains vs Subfolders Usage Comparison

  • How to Create Exit Intent Pop-ups Using Free Plugins

    How to Create Exit Intent Pop-ups Using Free Plugins

Affiliate Disclosure

While we receive affiliate compensation for reviews / promotions on this page, we always offer honest opinion, relevant experiences and genuine views related to the product or service itself. Our goal is to help you make the best purchasing decisions, however, the views and opinions expressed are ours only. As always you should do your own due diligence to verify any claims, results and statistics before making any kind of purchase. Clicking links or purchasing products recommended on this page may generate income for this website from affiliate commissions and you should assume we are compensated for any purchases you make.

About

  • About Me
  • Sign Up
  • Contact Me

Legal Stuff

  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer

Follow Me

Copyright © 2022 · Marketing With Vladimir

Get Comment Funnels For FREE (normally $197/m)

(Enter your name and email address below and click “Continue…” to complete)