Are you seeking a method to abbreviate the links of your WordPress website for the purpose of click tracking when shared?
If your website contains lengthy and cryptic URLs, a URL shortener can condense them into concise characters, facilitating easy sharing across various platforms. Additionally, you can monitor click counts and more.
This article presents an overview of the top URL shorteners for WordPress that offer link tracking capabilities.
What is a URL Shortener and Why Should You Implement It on Your Website?
A URL shortener is a utility designed to transform lengthy website links on WordPress into concise, easily shareable links. It streamlines intricate URLs that may be challenging to decipher by reducing them to shorter, more manageable links.
When a user clicks on a shortened URL, they are seamlessly directed to the correct webpage. This redirection employs 301 redirects, conveying to search engines that the link is permanent and unchanging. Importantly, the use of a 301 redirect does not adversely impact your WordPress SEO.
Shortened URLs prove particularly advantageous for sharing content on social media. Certain social media platforms, such as Twitter, impose character limitations on posts. If you are dealing with a lengthy URL, it can quickly consume a substantial portion of your character count.
Employing a shortened URL conserves valuable character space, allowing you to craft compelling and concise messages, thereby increasing click-through rates and enhancing engagement. As an illustration, WPBeginner employs custom short URLs for content shared on Twitter.
Moreover, URL shorteners can be utilized to transform affiliate links into more user-friendly versions. Affiliate links are often lengthy and include your affiliate ID or username, making them intricate and resembling the following example:
https://www.myaffiliatesite.com/products/?product_id=12345&affiliate=123345623456
By employing a URL shortener, you can convert these links into easily shareable, branded links. Some tools even offer the option to cloak affiliate links, lending them a more professional appearance, as demonstrated below:
https://wpbeginner.com/refer/productname
A significant advantage of using URL shortener tools is their ability to track the number of clicks, allowing you to assess link performance.
Having discussed the concept of URL shorteners and their utility, let us now explore some of the finest options available for implementing them on your WordPress website.
Pretty Links stands out as the premier WordPress URL shortener plugin and enjoys widespread popularity as an affiliate link management tool. Its primary function is to transform lengthy and intricate links into concise URLs adorned with your brand identity.
This versatile plugin extends its utility beyond your website, allowing you to cloak affiliate links, rendering them more reader-friendly. Consequently, it serves as an excellent tool for generating shareable links across various platforms, including social media.
When shortening a URL with Pretty Links, you gain access to a range of redirection options. These encompass 302 and 307 temporary redirects, as well as 301 permanent redirects, among others.
Pretty Links facilitates centralized management of all your shortened URLs directly from the WordPress dashboard. The premium version introduces advanced features, including the ability to categorize links into groups and assign tags.
Furthermore, the plugin offers an auto-linking feature, enabling the automatic insertion of affiliate links for specified keywords within your content.
Tracking the performance of your shortened URLs becomes effortless with Pretty Links. The plugin supplies a comprehensive report within the WordPress dashboard, presenting data such as browser information, operating system details, timestamps, hosts, URIs, and more for each link.
Additionally, Pretty Links seamlessly integrates with MonsterInsights, allowing you to monitor affiliate link clicks through Google Analytics, providing valuable insights into user behavior.
Recommended For: Pretty Links emerges as the ideal solution for individuals seeking comprehensive link management capabilities for their WordPress websites. It simplifies the management of affiliate links, offers cloaking and branding options, shortens any URL on your site, and facilitates link click tracking.
Pros:
- User-friendly plugin for creating customized links, suitable for beginners.
- Effortlessly manage and organize URLs from the WordPress dashboard.
- Cloaks intricate affiliate links for improved readability.
- Leverage the auto-linking feature to automatically embed links into specified keywords.
- Includes social sharing buttons for convenient link sharing.
- Seamless integration with other plugins such as MonsterInsights.
Cons:
- Lacks an automatic link uncloaking feature for Amazon.
- Absence of a link validation feature to check for broken links before publication.