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Sphinn Home » SEM
Analysis: Which URL Shortening Service Should You Use?
SEM News Source: http://searchengineland.com
Published: Apr 04, 2009 - 03:03 pm
Story Found By: MattMcGee 1043 Days ago
Category: SEM
Wow, everything you could possibly want and need to know about URL shortening services - from tech to SEO concerns and much more.
 Comments9 Comments  

Comments

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from pageoneresults 1042 Days ago #
Votes: 0

Excellent piece from Danny. Now, if I told you that I can counter many of the shortening routines, what would you say? Yes, there is a formula and particular URI constructs that will not get converted on Twitter. Been testing it now for quite a few months and it works. :) That was one very detailed analysis of URI Shortening Services. I greatly appreciate that you’ve clearly made recommendations on which ones to use and NOT to use. Many know my thoughts on shortening, I’m against it. But, I understand that 99% of the Blogging Universe can’t help it. ;)

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from seobro 1042 Days ago #
Votes: 1

tr.im is the one I use.

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from xpose 1042 Days ago #
Votes: 0

Without question, the one you should be using is Bit.ly.  I wrote a blog post about why and even provided some example code to make the transition easier.http://www.x-pose.org/blog/143/

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from beussery 1042 Days ago #
Votes: 0

Interesting post!  Worth mentioning, I’m pretty sure Google Analytics won’t track through redirects in the default configuration...http://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/bin/answer.py?answer=55477

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from Jill 1041 Days ago #
Votes: 1

beussery, ahh, but you can append google analytics campaign tracking codes in the long URL before you shorten it. That way the resulting URL that people land on within your site has the codes and you can easily see how your campaigns did.I don’t think Danny mentioned this in his article, but it’s quite powerful.

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from pageoneresults 1041 Days ago #
Votes: 1

I’d like to see URI Shorteners become extinct in the near future. It is nothing personal and STRICTLY business. Ever use Search.Twitter.com via the Web? Try searching for domain name brand references. They don’t exist in many instances because they are hidden behind a shortened URI. You can avoid the conversion. I do it 99.5% of the time now after research and practice. http://Sphinn.com/story/103964It took a little bit of time to figure out the exact formula and I do believe we’ve nailed it. It does require that you have proper URI constructs out of the box. If you are working with URIs that are more than 70 characters you are doomed to conversion and I really feel for you. The effects of the conversion processes have not been fully studied yet, or at least I don’t think so. I do know that the effects of non-conversion are extremely powerful, so that is a plus.Stop the conversions! If your domain is short enough, create your own URI Shorts and maintain your domain name brand. Not to mention all the keywords that are being nixed in the process of conversion. It’s a bad, bad environment for URIs to be recycled through. http://Example.com/0a1b2cRemember, URI Shorts are forever and a day. Do not treat them as disposable. Once you post that converted link, it is there forever or until the URI conversion service ceases to exist which has been known to happen.

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from beussery 1041 Days ago #
Votes: 0

>>>"beussery, ahh, but you can append google analytics campaign tracking codes in the long URL before you shorten it. That way the resulting URL that people land on within your site has the codes and you can easily see how your campaigns did.I don’t think Danny mentioned this in his article, but it’s quite powerful." @JillSure and thanks for your reply!  My comment wasn’t by any stretch of the imagination to suggest that "Danny Sullivan" of all people, doesn’t know his stuff when it comes to online marketing. :)  I was attempting to point out for those less savvy and "non-Jill Whalen", "non-Danny Sullivan" level folks :) that GA wont track through redirects like tiny urls from Twitter by default.  Like you said, "this" (non-Adwords tracking, link tags, Google’s URL builder, landing page redirects) wasn’t mentioned but is critical in my humble opinion...Either way sorry for venting Jill, I’ve received a half dozen or so communications since this post from "weekend warriors" :) wanting to know why their analytics is broken as it won’t track tinyurls posted via the shinny new Twitter account they created Saturday using the default GA setup without tracking tags....Wheeeew I feel better now :)

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from BenGerstein 1041 Days ago #
Votes: 0

I use tr.im, it’s the sexiest of the bunch :)

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from mwiegand77 1040 Days ago #
Votes: 0

Without being a totally bandwagoner, I think bit.ly is a good choice for businesses on Twitter, but use whatever you want for personal where it doesn’t mean as much and you can gain that extra character (i.e. tr.im, etc.).

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