There are plenty of reports regarding URL shorteners. For instance, some claim that shortening links could make your SEO to suffer, whereas others assert that URL shorteners are a serious risk to security risk.
However, this isn’t the case at least when you’re using the correct tool. Reputable, trustworthy URL shorteners do more than just offer quick, simple-to-manage URLs and manage them well, but they also take extra steps to safeguard users from harmful content. Additionally, URL shortening could provide significant benefits to everything including SEO, and social media branding, from internal knowledge sharing.
In essence, the best URL shortener will give you significant benefits to your company and your employees, and anyone who visits your hyperlinks.
What, then, is an URL shortener? What are they? What are their benefits to your company? We will discuss the most effective ways to use an URL shortener, the advantages of employing internal URL shorteners in teams, and how you can protect your data.
Are URL Shorteners a good thing?
The first thing to do is. Before we get into the reasons you should make use of an URL shortener, let’s go over the basics of what is a URL shortener actually is.
A URL shortener tool is a device that creates a unique link that can send visitors to any site you want, but with considerably smaller characters than the traditional URL. While the majority of URL shorteners produce shorter links that can be used by consumers but companies also utilize URL shorteners to make custom short URL (known in the industry as internal short links for teams) to enhance their internal knowledge sharing, and enable employees to get the information they require whenever they require the information.
URL shorteners also monitor the performance of links, giving you important information on who’s using your links, and the frequency, and where visitors are coming from, if you’re using shortened links to promote your business or establish your brand, will help you improve your approach.
What is the process by which URL shorteners function?
URL shorteners function by redirecting traffic. When you enter a URL into a shorter URL, the shortener generates a shortened link which if clicked, redirects users to the initial URL. Instead of taking them directly to your site by entering a long URL into your browser, clicking on the shorter link will direct the user to your desired website or asset, bypassing the need to enter the full URL.
In another word, a long URL and a shorter link generated with a shortener take the user to the exact goal, but they provide different methods to reach it.
Five reasons to employ 5 reasons to use the URL Shortener Tool
There are several reasons that you may want to utilize an URL shortener for both internal and external usage, such as:
Character Limits
Certain platforms, such as Twitter have character limits, which means that you can only use a number of characters in your post before it is removed. URL shorteners cut down on the number of characters that appear in the URL, leaving more characters for the message you wish to share using the URL.
Tracking Performance
URL shorteners usually come with the ability to create an information dashboard that lets you track everything from the number of clicks a particular link has received to the location where these clicks originate from. So when you need to monitor the way a particular link is doing, URL shorteners could be an enormous advantage.
Branding
URL shorteners typically come with a dashboard of data that allows you to monitor everything from the number of clicks a given link has received, to where these clicks originate. So when you need to monitor the way a particular link performs, URL shorteners can be an enormous benefit.
Link Sharing
Links that are shorter are simpler to share via social media. So when you’re looking to get your URL known to the world, a shorter link is a good option to encourage sharing on social media particularly if it’s an easily recognizable link, e.g. go/blog. blog/go, or a branded link may have the company’s name on it www.acme/blog.
Internal Knowledge Sharing
The majority of companies have massive quantities of information and data that employees must navigate every day. The shorter links help to organize and access the information and data. This helps save time and energy and helps boost productivity.
Why do URL Shorteners get a Bad Rep for Being Unsafe?
One of the most frequent questions people ask about URL shorteners’ safety is ” are they safe?” They have the right reason, URL shorteners are regarded as being unsafe, and this reputation isn’t entirely unfounded. Because URL shorteners disguise their URLs, a user does not immediately know which URL is taking it. This opens the door for those with less than stellar intentions to utilize URL shorteners to share dangerous URLs. Clicking those links could be a risk in a number of ways that include:
- Malware. Cybercriminals may employ shortened links as a method to lure users to websites that install malware on their computers.
- Phishing. Cybercriminals can also make use of shorter links in scams using phishing. They’ll employ a shortened URL to redirect users to a page that appears to be legitimate, however, it’s made to collect sensitive information (like Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, and social insurance numbers).
But, security features for browsers have been advancing rapidly. If you’re using a safe browser, it’ll detect any unsafe hyperlinks, whether they’re shortened or not. (For instance, Chrome has security tools to guard users against untrustworthy or dangerous websites.) Also, although you’ll always be using security best practices when you click shorter links, they’re also much safer than they once were.
Shortened Internal URL Tool Security Tips
Do you want to make sure you’re as secure as possible using short URLs? Here are a few suggestions to help keep your staff and yourself protected:
- Be aware of the origin. If you receive a shorter link from someone you don’t know, or in an email that looks suspicious ensure that you do the necessary research prior to clicking.
- Make sure your security tools are current. There are plenty of tools and programs that will safeguard you from URL-shortened security problems, but only if maintain those tools and programs current. Be sure to regularly update your security tools for your network as well as anti-malware and other security software.
- If in doubt check your hyperlinks. If you’re not certain if a website is secure, verify it! It only takes some minutes and can save you lots of energy, time, and frustration when it comes to the event of a security breach. The majority of URL shorteners include an option to preview the URL that will let you see the URL completely and, in the case that you’re using an URL shorter you’re making use of don’t offer this feature, you may make use of an external URL checker, such as getlinkinfo.com, unshorten.it, or urlxray.com–to make sure a link is secure prior to clicking.
For tools for internal URL shortening There’s even more security to protect your business’s information. Utilizing a tool like GoLinks, users have to undergo an authentication process to prove they’re associated with the organization prior to using any resources. Therefore, even if the company’s go link was accidentally shared outside the company, an unintentional third party wouldn’t have access to the GoLinks’ content. This protects sensitive company data and safety.
