7 Link Shortening Best Practices Everyone Should Follow

Jul. 23, 2020

7 Link Shortening Best Practices Everyone Should Follow

How can linking be done better? It's not a question people often raise, because as long as a link gets you to a destination effectively, it works fine, right?

Truth is, links offer so much more utility when they're optimized to be most effective. Here's how to make the most of your links with Bitly.

1 – Shorten your links

It seems kind of silly to say, considering this is a post on link shortening best practices. It's a little…redundant? But before we can cover all of the ways you can improve your links you do have to shorten them.

Shortening your links makes them more:

✅ Versatile – since you can use them online and offline
✅ Memorable – they'll have fewer characters
✅ Forgiving – you can redirect their destinations

C reate a Bitly account to get started.

2 – Use a custom domain for branding & consistency

If you're new to our community, here's something worth noting: branded links attract more clicks than generic links. People are more likely to trust your branded links (compared to your bit.ly links) because they recognize them as yours. As a result, using branded links can boost your click-through.

Get started: Visit your Organization Settings in Bitly to add a custom domain or learn more about how branded links get more clicks.

3 – Customize the back-half of your links

Replace the randomly generated letters and numbers with a custom call to action. Showing your audience where you're sending them gives them more assurance that they're clicking through to the right place.

Some tips:

👉 Keep it short and concise
👉 Be aware of case sensitivity

For example, you may having a link leading to your website's pricing page. Here's how ours looks: bitly.is/pricing . In this example, the back-half of the links is "pricing." It shows you exactly where we're sending you before you even click.

4 – Install the Bitly Chrome extension

The Bitly Chrome extension makes it even easier to shorten, copy, customize and share your links—and you can do it straight from your browser.

Get the extension here.

5 – Generate a corresponding QR Code for offline use

QR Codes allow smartphone users to easily scan a code instead of having to type a link into their browser. You can easily generate a code on any link in Bitly and capture engagement with it as you would any other link.

Read: 9 Creative Ways to Use QR Codes

6 – Track & compare cross-channel link performance

Using the Campaigns feature in Bitly, you can manage and measure link activity across campaigns, influencers, internal communications and more.

You can track results from your Campaigns dashboard, which allows you to see how each channel in your campaign is performing at a high level as well as more granularly. The example above illustrates how an educator might use Campaigns .

Read: How AC Lens Saw a 106% Higher Conversion Rate With Mobile Deep Links

7 – Create smooth mobile experiences using deep links

Point mobile users to a specific location in your app, rather than a web browser using easy-to-create mobile deep links. If they don't have your app installed, you can invite them to download it or lead them to the mobile web experience.

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Following these link shortening best practices is easy. Get started by creating a Bitly account. Or, upgrade to a paid plan to unlock even more features and tools.