Imagine you found an interesting resource and want to share a link. But instead of a neat short link, you send a message 5 lines long. The link may be so long for several reasons:
you gave a link to a page in a subsection – because of this, the path to it includes a large number of characters,
The long name of the resource itself – for example, a domain or a page,
The link contains Cyrillic – when adding a link, the Cyrillic is decod and increas in volume.
Is it possible to shorten a link? Of course! And a link shortener will help you with this.
A link shortener is a service that can ruce the size of a link (alternatively call a URL or a link). After that, the short link address will not exce 20 characters.
In this article we will tell you how to make a short link in 10 popular services.
How does a URL shortener work? Each short link consists of two parts:
domain – the address of the server where the service for creating shortlinks is locat;
token – a set of characters by which the shortener identifies the original URL.
For example, if you cut the link via the Clicker service , you get the following shortening result: 33RWv7
In it, means the domain where the shortener is locat, and 33RWv7 means the token.
Each URL shortening service includes the following elements:
event handler – a special script that reacts to an external event – to receiving the original link. The handler analyzes the original address and creates a short URL;
token generator — a mini-program that issues a “pass” to access the original page via a short link. The generator creates a unique set of characters for each long link;
database that stores the links between the original (long) link and its shorten version.
To shorten a link, the shortening service performs the following actions:
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The long link is sent to the event handler.
The event handler parses the link and passes it to the token generator.
Token generator creates a unique combination of characters and assigns it to the receiv URL. In parallel, it transmits the new link-token relationship to the database.
The token generator passes a shortlink with an identifier to the event handler.
Event handler assigns a short URL and returns the finish short link.
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When to shorten a link.
In what cases is link compression a suitable solution:
Make it easier to remember . The shorten format is closest to a “human-like” URL.
Dictate verbally . A short URL is easy to say out loud. This is convenient if you ne to communicate a link to a page over the phone or in a personal conversation.
Use in social networks . A short link will look great in the profile header or on the company’s official account.
Track clicks . This will be useful for advertising campaigns: the marketer will be able to track whether the advertisement was useful.
When you don’t ne to shorten a link
Let’s look at cases in which it is not recommend to create a short URL:
The link must remain working forever . For this, the URL shortening service must work without interruptions. If technical problems occur on the service site, the creat links will be unavailable and users will not be able to access the resource.
Ne to add a link to an email . Email service providers do not always trust short links: a rirect may hide a malicious site or outdat information. Therefore, emails with a shorten URL may end up in the Spam folder. To avoid this situation, you ne to attach full links to your email correspondence.
Setting up site navigation . As we have already phone number mx said, the URL shortener may stop working. If at least one of the links in the site code “breaks”, the entire structure may suffer. Therefore, we recommend using only original full links in sections.
4 Best Russian Link Shortening Services
When creating a short link, it is worth focusing on the audience. If you provide a link to Russian users, we recommend using Russian shorteners. They have two main advantages: guarante support of the Russian language.
These services will not suspend operations in Russia
In addition, most Russian shorteners have a simple interface, which makes work easier.
Clicker
Clicker is a link shortener develop by Yandex. This service is more than 10 years old.
The clicker is as simple as possible. It is perfect for beginners or when you ne to shorten a link as quickly as possible and provide it to other users.
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Advantages of the Clicker service:
generates a QR code along with a short link,
does not require registration,
can be us for free.
The only drawback of the service is the lack of analytics on short links
To.click
To.click is a URL shortener that has additional functionality for marketers. In addition to its direct purpose, the service will be useful for tracking traffic within an advertising campaign.
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Advantages of To.click:
support for Cyrillic and emoji in the link address,
the ability to connect your own domain,
functionality for how do I create a compelling subject line? creating target links bas on the user’s device,
adding pixels VK and Odnoklassniki,
API integration,
detail click statistics,
functionality for mass creation of short links,
Free basic features.
Disadvantages of To.click:
mandatory registration on the site,
Additional features are available only in the paid version.
U.to
U.to is a minimalist URL shortening service that is perfect for when you ne to quickly generate a short URL.
In addition to creating shorten links, U.to allows you to track clicks on generat URLs.
to track the number of clicks on links you will still have to register,
The registration form includes ten mandatory fields.
VK
The VK social network has a service for creating short links. However, the generat URLs can be us not only within the social network, but also on other resources.
