URL Shortener Tools

What Is a URL Shortener?

A URL Shortener tool helps reduce the length of your URL, making it short and crisp. Since the dawn of the internet era, links have been the way for us to navigate around the vastness of the internet. A user either searches for a webpage or enters the web address in the search bar, either way, it’s the URL that helps you access the webpage.

But as more webpages are being indexed every day on the internet, it has become more important to use a URL shortener to make a crisp and small link, which is easy to navigate, and access.

A URL shortener is also referred as a link shortener, short link generator. The platform does one simple thing, make your URL small Custom link shortener platforms also let you customize your URL to match your domain name. Rather than creating a short link based on the platform’s domain, users can create a short URL that reflects the brand name and identity.

Who Can Use URL Shortener?

URL shortener is popularly used by brands and businesses across the globe. Be it small or mid-sized companies or large corporations, everyone stands to benefit from URL shortener tools. The software helps reduce the character count of your URL. With advanced URL shortening tools, businesses can also generate custom URLs to match their domain.

Short link generator platforms are especially useful for brands and businesses that are consistently posting on social media platforms. Character count limitation on Twitter makes these platforms handy. Also, the quick interactive nature of social media mandates companies to use short links while posting.

A few platforms also allow you to track clicks on the URL for further analysis. The insights section on these platforms allows for a deeper understanding of how your audience is interacting with the link. It is vital data for the marketing and digital teams to assess and adapt their marketing efforts.

Reasons to Use URL Shortener/ Why Use Link Shortener

URL shorteners have become an industry standard for businesses that focus on their digital impressions. Tiny URLs have proven immensely popular and helpful for brands and their digital growth. A short URL with a brand name goes a long way toward building trust and enhancing engagement. A user who receives a message with a shortened URL reflecting the said brand has more chances of interacting with the link compared to the long traditional URLs.

Short URLs also come in handy when assessing the analytic data. With a better engagement rate, better conversion rate, and complete analytics, using a link shortener is a no-brainer for businesses.

How You Can Shorten URLs with URL Shortener?

A basic URL shortener comes with the option to sign up and generate a small URL on the platform’s domain. Most URL shortener platforms are easy to use; all you have to do is enter your original link and generate a new short URL.

URL shortener online platforms such as tiny URL shortener and Bitly link shortener also have browser extensions that help generate crisp URLs quickly. Users can also generate custom domain-based tiny URLs, but this feature is restricted to a premium subscription with many other useful features.

Key Features of Link Shorteners

• Shorten Link: Make a new small URL reflecting your brand name.
• Track Link: Analyze the performance of your new short URL for deeper insights.
• Share Link: The new tiny URL is perfect for sharing on social media platforms.
• Custom URL: One of the biggest advantages of using a short URL is that you can customize the tiny URL based on your domain. This helps with the consistency of branding across all the platforms.
• Link Management: Link shortening tools allow you to edit, organize, and analyze all the small links created and shared with complete oversight and control.
• Campaign Management: Short links, posted across various social media platforms during a campaign, can be tracked for analytics data by any data analysis software. This helps businesses understand their target audience better and get all the necessary data about clicks and engagement.
• Browser extension: You don’t require any installation on your device. Users can simply enable an extension and generate a URL for any webpage with just a click.

Benefits of URL Shorteners in Marketing

Tiny URLs help in text message marketing: Brands that focus on text messages to update their customers need the best link shortener. These platforms would help shorten the character count of their message and increase engagement. A short URL has a better chance of getting clicks compared to a long extensive URL. It also helps make the message crisp, look better, and add substantial value.

• Boosts traffic substantially: Posting a custom short URL across platforms like social media increases brand visibility and drives traffic and engagement.
• A small URL in email marketing: Shortened URLs in email campaigns are far more effective than posting the original URL or hyperlinking texts. Email campaigns are all about being direct with the messaging and catching the attention of the customers and the small URL aid to that. It also boosts the overall appearance of emails.
• Get the analytics data of the short link: Link shortener platforms offer analytics data that gives information on click rates, region, time, and much more. This information becomes vital when running a campaign. Data from analytics helps understand the audience, what works with them, demographics, and other variables. URL shortener is being popularly used by brands and businesses across the globe

10 Best URL Shorteners for Businesses

Software	Features	Best For
Bitly link shortener	Custom domain, Branded links, QR codes, Location and device type data, Advanced performance dashboard, Link in bio, Chrome extension	Users can create custom branded links with analytics data accessible in a dynamic dashboard
Pdisk shortener	Branded links, Campaign management, API (Application Programming Interface), High earning per click	Customers can make money with every click on the shortened Pdisk URLs.
TinyURL shortener	Custom URL, Campaign management and analytics, No expiry on tiny links, Link management and bulk URL shortener	All-round performance tracking for custom small links
Ow.ly	Multiple domain names, Bulk link creation, Customized analytics, Traffic routing & deep linking, Link retargeting	Allows you to put your brand name in the short links and share them with custom domain name.
BL.INK	Custom short link, Team collaboration, Integration with existing CRM, Data analytics	It’s a complete link management platform that allows users to manage short URLs’ performance. And the analytics data can be integrated with other web analytics tools.
Sniply	Custom URL with the option to add CTA, Easy integration with web analytics tools, Intuitive dashboard, Custom enterprise plan, Conversion optimization	URL shortener platform that allows users to shorten the link as well as customize every link to optimize conversion and click rates.
Clickmeter	URL encryption, Google Analytics UTM support, Link targeting	It is a short link generator as well as a click-rate optimizer. Users can create tiny URLs and target them to specific demography and device.
Missinglettr	Link shortening, Link analytics, Custom domains, Tag management	Used by bloggers and social media creators, the platform creates small URLs for social media campaigns and blog posts, and provides analytics data for the tiny URL created
Tiny.cc	Shorten and monitor referrer or affiliate URLs, Measure conversion rate, Custom domain, Link management	A popular link management platform that allows users to share, edit, organize, and track the custom URL with data depicted in an interactive dashboard

How Can You Get the Best Link Shortener?

• There are thousands of URL shorteners online. Every tool has its USP, such as bulk link generator, custom domain, link management, analytics data, high payout per click, and more.
• Based on your requirement and how you wish to use the tiny link generator platform, you can make the right purchase. Users need to consider certain factors before proceeding with a weblink shortener:
• The small URLs created should not have an expiration date
• Phishers use suspicious short URLs. Custom short URLs with brand name will help in establishing trust.
• Access to analytics data, including click-through rate and engagement numbers, are necessary for businesses running campaigns with small URLs
• Users should be able to edit the URL in future
• Integration of URL shortener with the current CRM and analytics platform allows for easy tracking of performance
• Bulk generation would allow businesses to quickly export their existing URLs to tiny URLs

Are There Any Downsides Of Using URL Shortener?

Although URL shortener is a great tool to boost engagement and click rates, there are some downsides and risks associated with using a small URL:

• Security: With a traditional URL, users can assess where the page is leading too. However, with a short URL, users are often left confused and uncertain about the URL. Short URLs are often marred with an air of suspicion and users don’t tend to click on the link if it is not descriptive. Hackers have often used short URLs to phish people.
• Misdirection: Shortened URL from some platforms have redirected users to a completely different page, often spam or scam pages. This can be a major breach of privacy for various businesses. Many platforms have now rolled out the option to preview the redirection of the link to ensure that it leads to the desired page.
• Unreliability: Link shorteners, if they go under or make any change to their service, often causes trouble for the users. This can lead to your tiny URLs being defunct and to make matters worse, you wouldn’t even know for a long time that some links are not working. This could affect your brand or business reliability.