Link shorteners are saas (software as a service) that help you get more visibility for your website, posts, and social media by giving people easy access to your content. For example, a link shortener can give users who share links only a few characters they need to copy and paste instead of typing out the entire URL.
They make the URL more memorable, as you can customize the alias at the end of the URL.
Using a link shortener on your site or in social media will help contribute towards higher search engine optimization (SEO) rankings by decreasing the amount of external keyword-rich links pointing to your site.
However, most people don’t know what a link shortener is and how it works. In this blog post, we will explain what is a link shortener and how does it work? You will learn about the different types of link shorteners and their pros and cons in detail as well as case studies about them.
What is a link shortener?
Link shorteners are tools that help you give people easy access to your content. Link shorteners shorten the URLs of external links (generally) on a website or social media so they are easier to share without needing to type the long URL.
When using link shorteners, you must go for the one which offers maximum features, like Call-To-Action, Splash feature, Bio pages, Device/Language/Location targeting, etc.
Types of Link Shorteners
There are three types of link shorteners:
- Basic URL shortener like Bitly, lets you shorten a link, and that’s all.
- Intermediate URL shortener that allows you to have an editable option, and some basic features like analytics alongside.
- Advanced URL shorteners like Incises, which are a jack of all trades. They offer the most bang for your buck, as the feature list is huge and includes everything that the above two shorteners provide.
Using a URL shortener allows you to shorten any URL and make your link easier for people to share on social media like Facebook and Twitter. You can also use this type of link shortener to track the number of clicks on your content.
Using an HTTP link shortener helps improve search engine optimization (SEO) ranking as well as increase the number of external links pointing to your site, which can help with SEO.
Tip: Use your own domain to Incises and every time you share your short link, you get full SEO benefit.
How does a link shortener work?
As we mentioned above, a link shortener is a tool that helps you get more visibility for your website, posts, and social media by giving people easy access to your content. Eg, a link shortener can give users who share links only a few characters they need to copy and paste instead of typing out the entire URL. These can be very helpful when posting on character-limited platforms like Twitter.
To shorten your link using a link shortener, you just need to go to the dashboard they provide and follow the below steps :
- Paste your external (long link).
- Choose the associated options, Call-To-Action, Targeting (Geo/Location/Language), Tags or Pixel, Splash.
- Choose the domain you can to create a short link.
- Click to generate the link.
- Copy the short link.
Every time the short link is shared and used to access your external link, the link shortener service will track the analytics for you, including details like location, device, etc.
If you choose to associate the short link with an advertising pixel or tag, the prospect will be cookied and can be re-targeted on all major ads platform like Facebook, Google, etc.
If you choose to use features like Call-To-Action or Splash, your action options will be shown to the user as well.
Pros of using a link shortener
A link shortener is the swiss knife of today’s technology world, and a must-have for bloggers, marketers, content creators, and affiliate marketers.
One of the main benefits of using a link shortener is that it helps you attain higher search engine optimization (SEO) rankings by getting you backlinks on your custom domain (that’s associated with a link shortening service).
Every time the external link changes or is broken for any reason. You can go into the service and change the destination long URL, without caring about where those short links are spread around. This can be a gold mine for Affiliate Marketers, as companies change their Affiliate links often.
Every time the short link is used to access your external link, the link shortener service will track the analytics for you, including details like location, device, etc.
A short link associated with the re-targeting feature will tag the prospect and can be re-targeted on all major ads platform like Facebook, Google, etc.
If you choose to use features like Call-To-Action or Splash, your action options will be shown to the user as well.
Case study: The Sweepstakes!
In case folks are unaware, sweepstakes are offer/promo/giveaway contests used for lead generation.
People participate in Sweepstakes and a winner is selected either at random or based on actions performed.
Now, the problem with Sweepstakes is, that they are almost always locked to a device or a country.
Eg, iPhone or PS4 sweepstake for the USA.
Problem: If you promote a USA Sweepstake to a mixed geo-audience, you are leaving a lot on the table, as your traffic from another geo/device/country is going to waste.
Solution: Geo/Device target the Offer with a fantastic link shortener like Incises.
Find, similar sweepstake offers across multiple affiliate platforms, locked to different countries or devices, and invoke them on the URL shortener.
Eg, (short link)
-> iPhone Sweepstake for the USA
-> iPhone Sweepstake for the UK
-> iPhone Sweepstake for Australia
-> iPad Sweepstake for the USA
-> iPad Sweepstake for Germany
-> Default long link
With a setup like the above, you are sharing the same short link with your audience, and depending on where (or which device) the link is opened from, the Offer will change. Ensuring, no traffic is lost.
Even better, if a match is not found, you can use the leftover traffic for your own website/blog/lead gen.
Case study: Trump Vs Biden
How many of you remember the Trump Gold coin during the last USA election campaign?
While almost all of us were sleeping, and busy with our work. One Affiliate Marketer raked up a crazy commission.
The Trump Gold coin was an affiliate program available on ClickBank, with a hefty commission on sales.
The emotions were running wild during the election period in the USA.
The Affiliate Marketer used an article from a famous new channel and applied a Click to Action (CTA) to it.
The CTA used Trump’s face in place of the logo, and read, “Purchase Trump coin, to support trump’s campaign for the election.”
The color for the CTA banner was matched with the news article, and blended seamlessly, making folks assume the CTA is part of the news website itself, providing it the necessary credibility.
The shortened link was then spread across all the channels, and guess what happened next?
The CTA on other’s content opens up an infinite opportunity, limited only by your imagination.
Now, we are not debating or justifying the ethics or morality of the campaign which made the Affiliate Marketer rich, and only stating what a small CTA can do for you.
Conclusion
Having a link shortener is a quick and easy way to get search engines to focus on your site. Link shorteners are incredibly powerful because they can help you get more backlinks, which in turn gives you more search traffic and more visibility. Just be sure to choose the right one for your business.
FAQs
What are the benefits of using a link shortener?
There are several benefits to using a link shortener, both for your website and for your social media to grow.
First and foremost, short links are easier to remember and control external outbound links, giving SEO benefits.
Change in destination URL if they are broken. You can go into the service and change the destination long URL, without caring about where those short links are spread around. This can be a gold mine for Affiliate Marketers, as companies change their Affiliate links often.
Detailed tracking and analytics to know what’s working and what’s not. The link shortener service will track the analytics for you, including details like location, device, etc.
A short link associated with the re-targeting feature will tag the prospect and can be re-targeted on all major ads platform like Facebook, Google, etc.
If you choose to use features like Call-To-Action or Splash, your action options will be shown to the user as well. Imagine the power of sharing, that too with others’ content and have the traffic/leads come to you, along with a growing social media following.
Redirect users to different long links based on Language/Location/Device.
What are the benefits of using a link shortener on your site?
Better tracking of analytics and control of external outbound links, giving SEO benefits.
What are the benefits of using a link shortener on social media?
Saves the number of characters in social media posts.
Drives the traffic/lead to you using any content (including others’ content) to you using Call-To-Action and Splash features.