How to shorten URL adress?
-
hi,
in my business Facebook page I have my website address. I want to track how many people arriving through this URL address to my site. I want to use URL builder but the final URL is too long and not pretty. I thought about using bitly.com but I need that the address on my page will contain the name of my brand.any ideas hot to shorten the URL address and still be able to track the data?
thank you all.
-
I agree 100% with Erica
that's what I was trying to explain to my 1st post. That is going to have to come up with a different domain regardless of whether or not you shorten it or simply choose a different TLD
it should be noted though that only bit.ly enterprise & AWE.SM are capable of allowing a person to create a unique short domain and creating a name after the/of your choice there may be another tool out there that can do it however to the best of my knowledge.
Bit.ly's Personal Edition will allow you To create a unique extension only if no one else on all of bit.ly has chosen that ending. Chances are they have though, and it's wise to go with tool that will create a short domain that is capable of making your brand look good.
the 1st answer does still answer your question. It's what I would do and what I have done that's why referenced the bseo.co link because I can to exactly what Erica stated save space on social networks and create my own short domain that redirects to my homepage if it does not have a unique URL it needs to 301 redirect
I hope this clears everything up.
Thomas
-
I also suggest using a service like bit.ly for shortening URLs & grabbing your own custom, even shorter domain. At Moz, we have mz.cm, which lets us get even smaller on Twitter and the link.
Any traffic coming into your site, you can track on GA. You probably want to set up custom tags and do some filters for what campaigns you're running.
At their basics, URL shortners are a 301 redirect. So if you really wanted to do the extra work, you could have a 301 redirect of say http://example.com/awesome to http://example.com/mysiteisrad/everyonelovesit/youarecool. It's just easier to use a 3rd party -- and since you own the domain and are pointing the traffic to the site you own, you can track it in GA -- like bit.ly to do the heavy lifting for you.
-
You can do that using http://totally.awe.sm/ , bit.ly pro or Bilty free if you don't mind not having control of what appears after the / you will need different TLD and the same name for your domain. if example.com is your brand domain then example.co is your shared domain.
I would recommend against using your websites domain name to create a lot of shared links that will not be part of your website. Even if they will look like example.com/fbshare or example.com/679a43054
You will need a new domain of your choice of course.
Sorry if I was not as clear in the beginning.
I misread your question.
Sincerely,
Thomas
-
Hi Joni,
What Vadim has said is true. You can use it for either platform really any platform that shortens links.
Use this tool to build the URL I am a huge fan of Kiss Metrics however that does not mean that you have to use them in order to find this article useful.
http://blog.kissmetrics.com/how-to-use-utm-parameters/
&
Then run whatever you build through the http://totally.awe.sm/ shortener or URL shortener of your choice.
Sincerely,
Thomas
-
-
thank you for your answer. maybe I missed something but I don't think that it answered my question.
it doesn't matter where I put my link, I want to be able to tag the link with google URL builder and than to shorten the address in a way that will include my domain name.
I want to track the data from google analytics and not from other platforms
-
Yes use http://totally.awe.sm/
They are by far the best in my opinion. Bitly Does offer a enterprise version that I believe starts at $900 a month
http://blog.awe.sm/2013/07/16/now-everyone-can-be-awe-sm
http://totally.awe.sm/platform/
you're looking to shorten a URL so it represents your brand and allow for you to control what comes after the / along with having a generally good looking URL.?
Check out this custom short URL of mine running on AWE.SM I created it so it should bring you right back to this page
so you are aware you can create a custom short domain for free using Bitly however your ability to track along with your ability to create a URL with less than 7 characters after the / or a custom name after the / would be taken away completely.
If I can make a recommendation as to how to find the perfect short URL check out https://domai.nr/
also remember certain registrars are not going to allow you to use certain TLD's for instance Italy has .it
they do not allow anyone that is not a citizen of the EU to registrar that domain. So my strongest recommendation is to use a .co if available obviously you may find something that works perfectly for you. However check out the TLD as some are under different regulations that will make your stomach turn.
I purchased a 3 letter domain that ended in.TK unaware that .TK is a TLD that is given away for free in certain circumstances, but only for a certain amount of clicks. So you can either purchase it for an extremely high amount or you can build your links be ruined.
name.com It is a good choice so is http://www.enom.com/
Namecheap.com is excellent as well and you can get a very good discount using Moz.com/perks
I hope this is been of help,
Thomas
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Can I change URL structure and maintain social signals?
I have recently updated an area of our website that had lots of content and some great social signals such as tweets, pins and facebook likes. The URL structure has changed and URLs have been redirected, but I'm wondering if we have now lost all the social signals? No pins, likes etc show on lots of popular content since the URLs have changed. Is there any way to preserve these or are they lost forever? Thanks in advance
Social Media | | BeadsDirect0 -
Which URL should I share with Facebook and google plus ?
Hi, My question is which URL should I use with the share plugins of Facebook and Google Plus.
Social Media | | Kadel
Should I use the URL of the website or of the facebook's page / google's + page? By the way , may I ask what's the source of the FB Shares that Moz present in the advanced keyword analysis report? and are those shares are of the website or of the facebook's page? Thanks,
Kadel.0 -
301 redirect for blog post URL change
I'm thinking about changing the URL for a new blog post that I have already promoted off-site today. I overlooked a detail and am gently kicking myself. I can't determine if it's worth any negative issues that adjusting it might create vs the value of having a more "perfect" URL. Would it be OK to do this by applying a 301 redirect to the page? Would this be the right thing to do or is there some other way? Thanks!!
Social Media | | gfiedel0 -
About url shorterner like ow.ly - does it count?
Hi there, I want to ask do you know does Google counts web pages' links in social medias like Facebook, Twitter etc when they are shortened like that: And is it better not to be shortened like that? http://ow.ly/2uk0Ow I am using HootSuite to post in those social medias and it automatically shortens them like that when there is a new post in rss emission.
Social Media | | vladokan0 -
Anyone just see a massive drop in URL Likes on their websites?
I just saw a big drop in Facebook URL Likes on my clients' websites. Has anyone else seen this too? Looks like Facebook is cleaning out the SPAM Likes.
Social Media | | Francisco_Meza0 -
Should I adopt Google Plus Custom URLs?
Google Plus have just released Custom URLs, see here So instead of the messy https://plus.google.com/b/012345679 you can have http://www.google.com/+{yourbrandname}. This would be much better for memorizing. But any opinions on added or future perceived SEO benefit?
Social Media | | RobertChapman0 -
Facebook Like on URLs
I have a doubt regarding the facebook LIKES for URLs Case 1: By using a Facebook Like Button (for URL) on my page(s). Here people are coming to my page and giving like directly on my page. Case 2: Here i'm not using any Facebook Like plugins on page, But my page got shared on facebook pages and profiles. And people are giving likes on facebook.com for my shared links. Is this two count as different methods? Explain me please.
Social Media | | riyas_heych0 -
How to Search Twitter Bios for URLs?
Hi Mozzers, Quick question, Does anyone know of a tool that can search Twitter bios for a URL then match the URL to the asscoiated twitter handle? For example, my twitter handle is @rosstav and the URL in my bio is rosstavendale(dot)com. I want a tool that searches bios for a list of URLs and returns the twitter handle. I tried Followerwonk but no joy. Any thoughts?
Social Media | | rtavs0