URL Shortener

Hi everyone!

I want to know if using URL shortener such as bit.ly will have the same effect as to using the original URL in linkbuilding eg. Dripable

They are suggesting of using URL shortener because some forums uses only 80 characters.

Will they still have the same affect?

Thanks!

ALoid

If the short url uses a 301 redirect to redirect to your site then there's no disadvantage, except that if they take down that short url then you will lose the effect of the links pointing to it. If they use a redirect other than a 301, then you won't get any link juice passing through the short urls.

You can see what type of redirect it is (301 or otherwise) by installing the Live HTTP Headers plugin for Firefox and clicking on one of your short urls.

Aight, will do check it if it's 301. Thanks a lot!

I'm testing this theory myself and I suggest looking into the WP URL shortener which only takes minutes to set up and you own the URLs so they never get taken from you.

There is an old thread here someweere on it but is basically this> buy a short .info or whatever for 2-3 bucks install WP and the URL plugin and you now own your own URL shortener service.

I don't understand the 301 theory on link juice though. Who says it works? Is there any decent documentation on it?

In my opinion, url shortener gives all the advantages of using the full url. It is mainly used where there's a cap on the no of characters that can be used as in Twitter.