URL shortening services allow people to create short links from long and awkward URLs. Last year, Google shut down the popular Google URL Shortener site, also known as goo.gl. Fortunately, there are still many similar tools available. Let's take a look at the features and prices of the best ones.

Why you need short links

The main reasons:

• They take up less space. While it's easy to hide even a long URL with all the UTM tags in a blog post, the space in posts and SMS is quite limited.
• On important parts of the site, in the navigation. If the link shortening service ceases to operate or suspends the service, any short links created by this service may become invalid. Users will therefore need to replace them with new ones.

Some link shorteners allow users to track click-through statistics. This feature can give you information about the number of visitors, their region, gender, age and other audience characteristics. This analysis can be very useful, especially if you are running marketing campaigns or monitoring the results of your content.

When it's better not to shorten links

• In email. Most email providers consider emails with shortened links to be potentially dangerous or spam. To avoid this, you can use full URLs in your emails instead of shortened links. This makes your correspondence more authentic and reduces the risk of your emails ending up in spam.
• It's easier to send a short link to someone else. Sometimes you can even remember it and dictate it.

Where you can use short links

How to shorten links

The process of shortening links is quite simple and convenient. You need to open the link shortening service of your choice, copy the URL you want to shorten and paste it into a special field on the service's website or application. Then click the 'shorten' button and you will have a short link ready to use.

Some tools require you to register before you can shorten a link. For example, via Telegram, social media or email.

Services may also have additional features for shortening links.

For example, you can:

• View conversion statistics (sometimes even by gender, age, geography of users);
• Customise the URL (specify part of the address yourself);
• Use bulk shortening (for a whole set of similar links);
• Link your domain (for nice addresses like site.ua/link).

But as a rule, such options are paid.

Top 10 ranking of the best link shortening services

1. Profit.store

Link: https://profit.store/short-link/

By logging in via a Telegram bot, the service allows you to protect links by setting passwords. In their personal account, users can edit, disable or archive the desired URL.

The shortened links service gives users access to statistics that show how popular and clickable their links are. In addition to the number of clicks displayed next to each shortened link, the service provides users with an advanced statistics section. It shows view dynamics, as well as the source of the channel, the brand of the gadget and the device from which the shortened link was viewed.

2. Bitly.com

Bitly.com is one of the most popular link shortening sites.

The functionality of the service is not limited to link shortening. It also allows users to track click-through statistics. To access this data, you need to go through the registration process or log in via a social network.

During the URL creation process, users can come up with their own name for the link and enter it in the 'Customise' field. The service's creators claim that such addresses are 34% more clickable than regular ones.

The site also offers paid services. Some users pay as little as $29 per month. The final price depends on the number of regular and custom URLs, the duration of the addresses and the storage of statistics.

3. is.gd

To test its operation, you can take any long address, paste it into an empty field and click the "Shorten! After that, is.gd will simply shorten it. To track statistics during the link creation process, click on "More options" and tick the box next to "Log statistics for this link".

Statistics allow the user to track the number of visits to a URL and sort them by criteria such as date, country, browser, etc. To view the statistics, click "I want to see statistics for this URL" after creating the shortened address.

4. Tiny URL.com

Tiny URL.com is one of the oldest and most popular URL shortening sites. The service was founded in 2002. During its existence, it managed to work with Twitter until the social network switched to bit.ly and then to its own t.co system.

To use the service, you must first enter the original link in the 'Shorten a long URL' field. If you want to get your own URL, you will need to enter a unique shortened address in the "Customise your link - Enter alias" section.

The functionality of the service is quite simple and easy to use. Tiny URL.com is fully up to the task.

5. U.TO

To see the statistics of clicks on the shortened link, the user must register on the site. You do not need to register to shorten the URL itself.

To test the service, take a long link and shorten it by clicking on the "Shorten now" button.

To see the statistics of visits to the shortened address, click on the "Statistics" button.

U.to performs its main task - shortening links. The functionality of the service is quite simple, but some may find it outdated. Users are particularly dissatisfied with the registration process on this site. It takes too long compared to other sites.

6. Cutt.us

Cutt.us offers users two different versions of its website:

1. The first is for standard URL shortening. Paste a long link into the empty field, enter a unique address name in the 'Suffix' field, and click the 'Cut' button. You will get a short URL with a QR code.
2. The second version of the Smart Multi URL Shortener allows users to process several long addresses at once. Let's enter three links and set the unique name "profit.store".

This is what it should look like: Next, click on the "Gooo...!!!" button. The service will then provide the user with the links entered in a shortened form.

A key feature of the service is the ability to shorten multiple addresses at once. It's a pretty handy feature, but Cutt.us is a little slower than its counterparts on this list.

7. Lnnkin

Lnnkin is another foreign URL shortening service. It allows users to create a custom address that looks something like this - lnnk.in/@shlink. The service also allows you to protect links by setting passwords on them.

To use the service, you must complete the registration process. Only then will you have access to your personal account, which includes a form for generating shortened links and managing URLs.

To analyse the statistical indicators, you should go to the Manage Links section and click on the corresponding icon located next to the desired URL.

In the same section, users can edit, disable or archive the desired URL. Some features are available after purchasing a paid subscription.

The service offers a paid subscription for users who, for example, need to shorten several links at once or create more than 5,000 addresses per month. The main features of the site are free. Lnnkin does not limit the number of short and custom URLs. All links shortened with the service are valid for life.

Chrome users can install a special browser extension that allows them to edit addresses in any tab.

Lnnkin is a simple, virtually free service that offers users many useful features.

8. Rebrandly

The creators of Rebrandly describe their service as a tool that turns any "huge, ugly and unpronounceable" address into a custom branded link.

To shorten a URL, simply paste the desired link into the appropriate field and click the 'Shorten URL' button. The service will then generate a shortened link and provide you with click-through statistics and a QR code.

To get additional features, you need to do the following:

1. Complete the registration process
2. Enter the desired link and click the Rebrand button. You can also click the New Link button on the Links page and enter a unique address.
3. Decide on the method of link shortening: generating the shortest possible address, an SEO-friendly method that takes into account the phrases in the URL, or selecting a random address.
4. Select a domain. The user can leave it as it is and leave rebrand.ly or specify their own domain.
5. Add UTM labels to the outgoing address if required.

Free statistics are limited to the number of clicks. For more detailed analysis (tracking the geography, devices, languages of the audience following the links), as well as linking multiple domains, posting large quantities of shortened addresses and generating reports, you will need to pay. The minimum monthly charge is $29.

Rebrandly is a high quality professional tool. It will be very useful for large brands and media. The service is particularly convenient as you can generate UTM tags, register domains and even collect user data for retargeting.

9. t1p.de

t1p.de is a German URL shortening service. The main advantage of this service is that it provides a reliable level of privacy and checks all addresses for potentially harmful material.

t1p.de protects the privacy of its users. The service does not collect any personal or other information. It also offers a number of additional features, such as the ability to set the expiration date of the link or the option to dereference the URL when it is opened.

Simply paste the desired link into the 'Your Link' field and click the 'Shorten Link' button. If you want the service to generate a random shortened address, leave the input field blank.

10. Ow.ly

Hootsuite is one of the most popular tools for social media management. Hootsuite users have access to a special feature called Ow.ly. This allows them to shorten addresses for use on different online platforms.

If you're already using Hootsuite, you can access this feature from your dashboard. From there, you can also view stats via shortcuts.

Here are the main benefits of the service:

• helps to analyse link performance indicators;
• conduct retargeting of addresses;
• tracks short URLs;
• supports mobile platforms.

Conclusion.

Link shortening services not only change the length of a URL, but often have additional features to improve the user experience and data analysis. Here are some of the typical additional features:

• Click-through statistics: allows users to track how many times a short link has been clicked, where and when it happened.
• QR code generation: some services allow you to create QR codes for short links, making them easier to use on printed materials such as business cards and advertisements.
• Password-protected links: This feature allows you to create short password-protected links to restrict access.
• Audience segmentation: some services provide information about the audience that clicks on short links, including region, age, gender, source and device.