So you've got your link shortener set up, and you're ready to start firing off links on social media and in your newsletters.
Hold on a second.
Just because you can shrink a link doesn't mean you should just blindly drop it everywhere. There is definitely a right way and a very wrong way to share short links. If you mess this up, people are going to assume your link is a virus and scroll right past it.
Keep these simple rules in mind before you hit publish.
1. Tell People Where They Are Going
Because a short link hides the final URL, you are asking your audience to take a leap of faith when they click it. Do not just drop a bare link into a tweet without any context.
Tell them exactly what's waiting for them on the other side. "I just wrote a deep dive on how to fix your email open rates, check the full guide out here: [Link]." It builds trust and sets expectations.
2. Ditch the Random Letters
When a shortener gives you a link that ends in /xY92b, do yourself a favor and edit it.
Most decent tools let you customize that back half (called the alias or slug). Changing it to something readable like /summer-promo or /new-podcast takes two seconds. It looks way cleaner, and it actually gives the person clicking a clue about what they are about to see.
3. Track Your Traffic Properly (UTMs)
This is for the data nerds out there. If you use Google Analytics, you already know you should be attaching UTM tags to your links (those little tags that say utm_source=twitter).
The rule here is simple: Add your UTM tags to the long link first, and then run that massive tagged link through the shortener. Do not try to stick UTM tags on the end of a short link—it usually breaks things. By shortening the tagged link, you get a clean URL on the outside and perfect tracking on the inside.
4. Test It Before You Blast It
This sounds painfully obvious, but we've all made this mistake at least once.
Before you send an SMS blast to 10,000 customers or drop a link in your bio, click it yourself on your phone. Make sure it actually goes where it's supposed to. A broken link in a paid ad campaign is one of the fastest ways to burn cash.
gometrify handles all of this in one place — custom aliases, UTM builder, branded domains, and real-time click analytics. Use our Free Redirect Checker to verify your links before they go live. Sign up free →