Posting links can be cumbersome and look unfriendly. Particularly on Twitter, where character count really matters, you may want to shorten down links to your listings or to your social media pieces! Here are the 3 tools to do exactly that.
1) Goo.gl
I do love Google products! Just look at my profile pic, I love the brand. As it turns out, they make hands-down the best URL shortener. Why? Because it gives you instant analytics on your links, without logging in.
Plus, being a reputable brand, people don't feel scared to click on it.
2) Ow.ly
You may have heard, I love Hootsuite, too! Owly is Hootsuite's dedicated URL shortener. You can use it as a freebie standalone, or integrate it with your free Hootsuite account. Posting links to Twitter has never been easier!
3) Bit.ly
The original URL shortener. It's free, it's fast, and it probably has the largest user base (and thus best support) of any of these tools. The risk here is that it is popular, which unfortunately includes scammers, because people make malicious Bit.ly links to spread viruses. Unfortunate that the brand is unfairly hurt by that!
4) Bonus tidbit!
Does URL shortening harm your SEO value? No sir! Here's a quick video from Google's own head webmaster explaining how it works. URL shorteners are formatted to do no harm to your SEO, a key consideration in your blogging and social media work! When we post for our partners like Armor Building Solutions, we routinely use URL shorteners, including one we built in-house.
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