Every character counts these days, so a little help from a link shortening service is a must. But are there other benefits to using a link shortener?
— Add your link anywhere – even in tiny spaces. In a pocket, on a business card, even a napkin!
— Because shortened links are really redirects, the link will never expire.
— If the link is easy to remember, it will be easy to use.
Archiving these short URLs is another matter. How long do they last? Who is responsible for their upkeep?
- Where do Short URLs Go When They Die?
- Archiving Web Shortcuts: Internet Archive Launches 301Works.Org
Cool fact from the 4Cast:
From Search Engine Land Blog: “A URL shortening service does a ‘301 redirect’ to the full URL. That number stands for the code a web server issues to a browser (or search engine) when a URL is requested.
A 301 redirect says that the URL requested (the short URL) has ‘permanently’ moved to the long address. Since it’s a permanent redirect, search engines finding links to the short URLs will credit all those links to the long URL.”
