Google URL Shortener- Should I use one or multiple???

[mgordon]

I have a client with a number of YouTube videos.  I'm using Google URL Shortner to allow the link to show in the YouTube text (as its a long URL).

Many of these links go to the same page ex .com/services-page

Should I use a single short URL for each video linking to the .com/services-page or should they be unique each time?  If unique, would Google possibly think I'm trying to manipulate results?

Thanks in advance.  I'm just not sure on this one and hope someone knows best practice on this.

Thanks!

[MattRoney]

I agree with Eric, and I also think this may be a good use for UTM tracking URLs. You could easily set them up using, say, the video titles as your utm_content. You could then shorten the URLs with the UTM parameters. Google has a great URL builder tool here.

[GlobeRunner]

Keep in mind that a Google URL shortener is a 301 redirect to the URL. It would actually be better to use the full URL if possible, as it won't result in a 301 redirect. You typically lose some "link juice" when passed through a 301 redirect.

If you can't use the full URL, and you want to use the shortener, consider using one that will give you statistics (such as bit.ly). This way you can actually tell which video is sending traffic to your site and getting clicks. In that case, I would go with a unique shortener for each one.

[4RS_John]

I don't know SEO implications, but if you use a unique URL on each YouTube video it'll be easier to track which ones get more clicks, (assuming Google makes that info available from the URL shortener - I haven't used it).