Should You Use URL Shorteners?

Writing by Nick Stamoulis Tweet

Chris Lang makes a convincing case to ditch your URL shorteners, this is not 100% related to search engine optimization, but I think it is important enough to discuss. The only time I’d say you should use an URL shortener is when you are promoting affiliate programs and you want to mask your affiliate ID. Even then, there is a better alternative.

Why not set up a page on your website that uses a keyword as a part of the folder and link to that page every time you want to promote your program. Then, when your site visitor clicks a link and heads over to that page they are redirected to your affiliate program’s landing page and the sale closed. Why would you want to do it that way?

• First and foremost, you build internal links to your own landing page, not someone else’s. This benefits you in a number of ways, including SEO.
• Even more importantly, more people will click on a keyword-based link than a short URL or cloaked URL where they can’t see the destination. Think about it – it’s risky to click those kinds of links and your visitors have to trust you a whole lot to be able to do it.
• Another reason, as Chris pointed it, is that your URL shortener service could go out of business, sell, or change its policies or business model. You’ll then find yourself going through your entire site and fixing broken links. That’s if you even know they are broken.

If you can’t, for some reason, use the above strategy then I’d recommend using e-mail marketing – which you should be doing anyway. Send your visitors to a landing page for your e-mail list and promote your affiliate programs through e-mail. Even then, you’ll have to cloak your affiliate IDs or have your own landing pages as in the above scenario. If you absolutely cannot have your own landing pages then cloaking your affiliate IDs with short URLs may be an alternative for you. But don’t do it if you don’t have to.