In today's digital world, where every click is important, how you show your links can have significant impacts on how visible, reliable, and effective your brand's marketing is as a whole. It's more important than ever to choose between short links and long URLs when you share links on social media, in email campaigns, or in print ads. Branded links are another excellent way to keep track of links. They assist organizations in getting others to trust them and advance their marketing numbers.
This blog will discuss the differences between short links and long URLs, why branded links are important, and how shortening URLs can change the way you market. We'll also discuss how custom URLs and link tracking can boost your SEO and campaign results.
What are links that are long and short?
Before we go on, let's make sure we know what long URLs and short links are.
- Long URLs are the full web addresses that you get from a website. They can be lengthy and difficult to follow, with a lot of different tracking codes and parameters. For example:
https://www.example.com/products/category/shoes?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=spring_sale_2025
- URL shortening services are tools that create short links, which are shorter versions of long URLs. Short links are much easier to share, remember, and track.
Short URLs make your marketing links look more professional and simpler to use, especially if you cannot spare lots of space, like on Twitter or in print.
Why are branded links more important than ever?
Branded links go a step further than basic short links when it comes to making things easier. A branded link, like https://yourbrand.co/springdeal, is a short URL that has been changed to show your brand name or domain.
https://yourbrand.co/springdeal
There are various benefits to this process of URL branding:
- People are more likely to click on a link that clearly shows your brand name, which helps individuals remember and trust your brand.
- Branded links can boost click-through rates by 39% or more, according to marketing research.
- Branded links help keep phishing and spam at bay because people are less likely to exercise caution when clicking on links that appear legitimate.
- Improves the professionalism of your marketing: It shows that your brand cares about the little things and how customers feel.
Short links or long URLs: Which is better for marketing?
Let's look at how they affect marketing:
1. How the user feels
Long URLs can be scary and challenging to read. A URL with many characters can make people think it's spam or suspicious. This type makes it less possible that people will click.
Branded short links, in particular, are clean, easy to read, and easily shared. This kind of knowledge works well for users and gets them more involved.
2. Can be shared
Short URLs are ideal for sharing on social media sites like Twitter and Instagram, as well as in print media and text messages.
3. Brand
Custom URLs let you put your brand into every link you share, making every click a chance to promote your brand. Long URLs can't do that.
4. Analytics and tracking
Marketers can keep an eye on:
- How many clicks
- Where the audience is located
- Type of device
- Source of the referral
This information is very useful for improving marketing campaigns.
Why businesses should use branded short links
There are many benefits for businesses that use branded short links:
- Better Brand Consistency: Every link strengthens your brand's identity.
- Better SEO: Branded links tend to do better in search results, as they receive more traffic as users trust those more.
- Link Management: You may keep track of, edit, and organize all of your links in one place in a centralized dashboard.
- Better Conversion Rates: URLs that look dependable make customers more likely to act.
- You might alter the destination URL without changing the link itself, which can be useful for promotions or campaigns.
What You Must Know Regarding Branded Links and Long URLs for SEO
SEO specialists at times argue over whether branded links are better for SEO compared to typical long URLs. Here are some things that matter:
- Added Click-Through Rate (CTR): Search engines note when people click on your links more frequently, which may improve your rankings indirectly.
- Greater Trust in Links: Branded links allow users to stay on your site longer and become more involved.
- Keywords in URLs: You can have some keywords added to custom URLs, which make your ranking signals stronger.
- Link sharing: People tend to share links that have your brand name included in them. This boosts your backlinks and social signals.
Long URLs might work, but branded links make the user experience better and improve SEO.
Why Should You Use Short Links in Marketing?
Marketers like short links because they:
- Create long URLs easier to share by shortening them.
- Give you click analytics so you can make decisions based on data.
- Safeguard your brand with custom URLs.
- Let's retarget with built-in pixels.
- See how well things are performing across all the channels.
Short links make email newsletters and social media campaigns better looking and better functioning.
How to Choose the Best Link Shorteners for Your Company
Many programs let you shorten links, but not all of them let you add your own branding. When looking for the best link shorteners for branding, keep these things in mind:
- Can you create branded links with your own domain? People say that the answer is "support for custom domains."
- Strong Analytics: Can you use the software to keep track of clicks and give detailed reports on them?
- Is it simple to use the dashboard?
- Integration: Will it work with your other marketing tools and your CRM, like Google Analytics?
- Link Retargeting: Would it be possible to add retargeting pixels to your ads?
Shortlinks and regular URLs: Examples from the real world
Here are a few reasons that display why short links are better:
- Twitter's character limits require the use of short URLs for social media. Branded links can benefit people by helping them remember your brand.
- QR codes and short links make it easier to go from print to online marketing.
- Email Campaigns: Long URLs can break in emails and cause problems. Short links stop such incidents from happening.
- Customer Support: Customers can type and remember short branded links more easily.
Branded links can improve your click-through rate
Many studies show that branded links increase click-through rates by making them look more professional and trustworthy.
- Users think that branded links are real.
- Links that show the brand name make people less likely to be skeptical.
- URLs that are unique and easy to remember make it more likely that people will share them.
This means that your campaigns will get more traffic, more engagement, and a better return on investment.
How branded URLs affect SEO
Branded URLs help SEO in the following ways:
- Branded URLs encourage people to share, thereby generating more backlinks.
- These signals indicate that users are more likely to trust and engage with the brand.
- This increases the authority and recall of a brand in search results.
- The way the URL is set up is just one of many things that affect how people act, but it's crucial for SEO success.
Here are several reasons why long URLs can harm your brand:
There are many ways that long, ugly URLs can hurt your brand:
- Long URLs appear as spam or raise doubts, which decreases trust.
- Long, ugly URLs are difficult to read, remember, or pass on.
- It can be cut short in emails or social media posts, which breaks the link.
- Don't give people chances to brand or market their messages.
Short links and branded links can help you get around these challenges and make your brand look appealing.
Link tracking and management: your secret weapon for marketing
Managing links correctly is more than just shortening URLs. It has:
- The first step includes organizing your links into folders and tagging them appropriately.
- This involves modifying the destination of the link while keeping the URL unchanged.
- Using marketing technologies to automate and target again
- Good link management solutions help marketers make better judgments based on facts.
Links can be categorized into three types: those with your brand name, short links, and long URLs. Our brand name, short links, and long URLs.
Conclusion
In the battle between short links and long URLs, marketers clearly favor the branded link. Branded short links make your URLs easier to read and more visually appealing, enhance brand awareness, increase your click-through rate, and provide invaluable tracking data to help you improve your campaigns.
By using URL shortening, link management, and custom URLs, businesses can leverage their marketing links as branding and data machinery complete with analytics to reach the top of a very crowded digital hill.
FAQs
What is the difference between links that are short and links with a brand name?
Shortlinks are shorter versions of lengthy URLs. Branded links have your domain or brand name, making them more memorable and trustworthy.
Do brand name links aid SEO more than long URLs?
Yes, since they make people more willing to click on links and trust them, which benefits SEO in a roundabout way.
Can I see who clicks on my short links?
Yes, most URL shorteners provide extensive statistics and link tracking.
Are there any free tools that let you make short links that use your brand name?
Some tools have free plans, but branded domains usually require paid subscriptions.
