Has there ever been a time when you tried to share a link to a news, product or blog and realized that you were confused or polluted by the fact that the address was extremely long? Or when you reached the Twitter character limit and spent half an hour thinking about how to shorten your sentence? Maybe so and maybe you used some URL shortener called goo.gl. However, it has been a year since this Google service is no longer available for use.
Fortunately, this service to shorten links (website addresses) is currently offered by several companies, which on top of that provide several tools for the user in addition to this function of reducing the size of the URL. With that in mind, I've selected the 8 best services to do this job for you. But first, what would be the benefits that the user has when shortening URLs?
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The benefits of using URL shorteners
There are several reasons to use URL shorteners when sharing a link:
- A good link shortening service turns your terribly long and confusing URL into a very clean, lookable and understandable address (depending on how it is shortened, you can understand the objective or where the link comes from).
- It is possible to create Custom URLs (links) depending on the service chosen.
- Branded shortened links tend to receive 39% more clicks than generic URLs,
- People who click on links often trust those shorts from trusted brands more than those who have long URLs, as they think it's spam.
- The customer of a company that shortens URLs may track how much engagement the shared link is generating. This way it is possible to improve marketing campaigns.
1 - Bitly
Bitly ranks among the most popular URL shorteners on the market. One of the main reasons for this is the fact that no registration is charged to be used. In addition, there is still the advantage that there is no limit to how many links a person can shorten.
In addition to shortening URLs, Bitly is also able to provide the number of clicks on a link, the places where these hits occurred and even the main indicators. Each shortened link is encrypted to protect against third-party tampering. However, to obtain these other benefits mentioned, it will be necessary to register for the service where there will be two options:
- Free way: there is limit to shortening branded links and 10k unbranded links per month.
- Paid Mode (US$35/month): no monthly limits.
2 - BL.INK
BL.INK is a link shortening service that has all the necessary tools together in a dashboard for beginners so that you can easily analyze the activity of a link that has been shared. It is possible, for example, to query traffic based on geographic location, device type, language and even referrer to better identify where the target audience is and how they are accessing the content. The time at which the clicks occurred on the links that had the highest engagement is also available.
This link shortening service also gives you the option to customize them to use your branding. In addition, there is the option of using Smart Link, a tool that generates URLs based on the most popular keywords, to more efficiently drive traffic to your site.
If you have a team, you can also control access permissions, so that only the right people carry out the proposed activities.
Check out BL.INK's plans below:
- Free: limit to shorten up to 1000 links per month with up to 1000 clicks per link.
- Paid ($12/month): access to more links, priority support and the various tools mentioned above.
3 - PixelMe
PixelMe is a startup that aims to help marketers target their customers more efficiently using the URL shortener service. About a year and a half ago, the company raised US$1 million and obtained a valuation of US$1,3 million according to the TechCrunch website. The great thing about this company was realizing that many services used tracking parameters to analyze the results of a marketing campaign and take it further, allowing users to incorporate one or several redirect pixels when you follow the PixelMe link.
That is, the user can use tracking pixels from Adwords, Facebook, Analytics and Twitter, for example. With this, the client will be able to display more relevant ads on social networks or Google. Maybe if you manage your store or website yourself, you might not get the point as you can include all the pixels you want. However, Pixelme allows you to redirect customers even if you promote an Amazon page, for example.
4 - Rebrandly
Rebrandly is a user-friendly URL shortener to customize your shortened links thus creating an address for your brand. In this way, users will more easily have greater recognition of their business in the midst of so much competition in the digital environment.
The first thing you do is configure the name of the site so that you can use it with all the abbreviated links when creating it. In addition, it is possible:
- Manage shortened URLs by creating faster redirects, QR codes, link expiration and custom URLs to create the best possible user experience. Also, you can create bulk links to save more time.
- Traffic routing to redirect links, emoji addresses, mobile URLs so the right people access your links.
- Analyze your data with the UTM generator to more easily identify where clicks are coming from and thus improve marketing campaigns.
- Manage domain names by adding multiple IDs, encryption with HTTPS and set a redirect to the main domain.
Blueprints:
- Free: with limited number of shortened links.
- Paid ($29/month): with all the tools mentioned above.
5 - Sniply
Sniply is a URL shortener that allows you to add remarketing code to a website you don't own. With this it is possible to track each person who accesses the chosen address through the link you shared and insert an advertisement in the URL without the need to pay for the ad.
6 - T2M
TM2 is a complete link shortening service as it comes with a dashboard awash with statistics and activities for the customer to utilize for their marketing strategies. In addition, you can create never-expiring links with your custom brand name, create bulk addresses to save time, and share URLs on social media with a single click.
TM2 even has tools like:
- Targeting geographic locations where your links were clicked.
- Password protected URLs.
- Unlimited generation of links and tracking statistics.
- Stop ads or spam.
- Intuitive dashboard with search functionality for easy link management.
Price:
- Basic plan ($5 one time): Monthly limits on link building and link tracking.
- Premium Plan ($9,90/month): Access to all the features mentioned above.
7 - TinyURL
Tinny.cc is a very basic, yet effective, URL shortening service, as it allows you to create custom link endings to use for branding. The interesting thing about this company is that there is no need to create an account to access tracking statistics, which include everything from click metrics to location, origin, browsers used, unique visits and much more.
In Tiny.cc you can edit or delete any URL that the user wants, in addition to displaying a history of links and being able to use management functions, filters, tags and search bar to find any address.
Tiny.cc allows you to:
- Select a tool to facilitate access.
- Generate links to SMS messages, email campaigns, social networks, advertisements and more.
- Links in QR codes are used to track statistics.
Price:
- Free: shorten 500 links, edit them and insert tags.
- Premium ($5/month): Includes the above features and more.
8 - Yourls
The name Yourls was created to say that it is "your own URL shortener". It is an open source, self-hosted URL shortener, just like Polr. To use it, you will need to install the program and run it on your server, making it very different from the options above.
Yourls is able to:
- Provide statistics such as number of clicks, referrers and geolocation.
- Create sequential or custom links.
- Generate sample files to create your own public interface.
- Additional resources using plugins.
- Use bookmarklets to easily shorten and share.
The Yourls program was developed to be light and in this way not to harm the server's resources.
Price: FREE
