{"id":1110,"date":"2009-07-22T05:43:39","date_gmt":"2009-07-22T09:43:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/?p=1110"},"modified":"2009-07-17T15:37:51","modified_gmt":"2009-07-17T19:37:51","slug":"the-url-shortener-contest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/2009\/07\/22\/the-url-shortener-contest\/","title":{"rendered":"The URL Shortener Contest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Which URL shortener<\/a> are you using on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn? Do you even care? Well you should! URL shorteners are not all created equal. In fact one of my colleagues reamed me out for using www.TinyURL.com<\/a> just the other day.<\/p>\n

If you use any social networking platforms then you know you have a limited amount of space in which to say what you want to say. Well, what if you want to link to something on your website or online? Here’s where a URL shortener is necessary. You can take a big URL like:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/searchengineland.com\/analysis-which-url-shortening-service-should-you-use-17204<\/a><\/p>\n

and turn it into a itty bitty URL like this:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/bit.ly\/ZuUw<\/a><\/p>\n

Big difference right? In fact if you click either of the links above you will go to a nice article reviewing the different URL shorteners that are popular. Search Engine Land even lays it out graphically so you can see what you think is important in one glance. Personally I use www.Bit.ly<\/a> as my shortener when I have a choice. Some social networking services do not give you a choice and some use www.TinyURL.com<\/a> as their default, but there are some nice reasons why you should evaluate which one you use and then stick with it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Which URL shortener are you using on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn? Do you even care? Well you should! URL shorteners are not all created equal. In fact one of my colleagues reamed me out for using www.TinyURL.com just the other day. If you use any social networking platforms then you know you have a limited amount of space in which to say what you want to say. Well, what if you want to link to something on your website or online? Here’s where a URL shortener is necessary. You can take a big URL like: http:\/\/searchengineland.com\/analysis-which-url-shortening-service-should-you-use-17204 and turn it into a itty bitty URL like this: http:\/\/bit.ly\/ZuUw Big difference right? In fact if you click either of the links above you will go to a nice article reviewing the different URL shorteners that are popular. Search Engine Land even lays it out graphically so you can see what you think is important in one glance. Personally I use www.Bit.ly as my shortener when I have a choice. Some social networking services do not give you a choice and some use www.TinyURL.com as their default, but there are some nice reasons why you should evaluate which one you use and then stick with it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,195],"tags":[449,443],"class_list":["post-1110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bright-idea-tips","category-twitter","tag-facebook","tag-twitter"],"yoast_head":"\nThe URL Shortener Contest | The Web Authority<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/2009\/07\/22\/the-url-shortener-contest\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The URL Shortener Contest | The Web Authority\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Which URL shortener are you using on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn? Do you even care? Well you should! URL shorteners are not all created equal. In fact one of my colleagues reamed me out for using www.TinyURL.com just the other day. If you use any social networking platforms then you know you have a limited amount of space in which to say what you want to say. Well, what if you want to link to something on your website or online? Here’s where a URL shortener is necessary. You can take a big URL like: http:\/\/searchengineland.com\/analysis-which-url-shortening-service-should-you-use-17204 and turn it into a itty bitty URL like this: http:\/\/bit.ly\/ZuUw Big difference right? In fact if you click either of the links above you will go to a nice article reviewing the different URL shorteners that are popular. Search Engine Land even lays it out graphically so you can see what you think is important in one glance. Personally I use www.Bit.ly as my shortener when I have a choice. Some social networking services do not give you a choice and some use www.TinyURL.com as their default, but there are some nice reasons why you should evaluate which one you use and then stick with it.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/2009\/07\/22\/the-url-shortener-contest\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Web Authority\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mccordweb\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-07-22T09:43:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nancy McCord\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@mccordweb\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@mccordweb\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nancy McCord\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mccordweb.com\\\/weblogs\\\/2009\\\/07\\\/22\\\/the-url-shortener-contest\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mccordweb.com\\\/weblogs\\\/2009\\\/07\\\/22\\\/the-url-shortener-contest\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nancy McCord\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mccordweb.com\\\/weblogs\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7499f3ac0b008bc0e5b7a138ac1dc0ba\"},\"headline\":\"The URL Shortener Contest\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-07-22T09:43:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mccordweb.com\\\/weblogs\\\/2009\\\/07\\\/22\\\/the-url-shortener-contest\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":219,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mccordweb.com\\\/weblogs\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Facebook\",\"Twitter\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Tips\",\"Twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mccordweb.com\\\/weblogs\\\/2009\\\/07\\\/22\\\/the-url-shortener-contest\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mccordweb.com\\\/weblogs\\\/2009\\\/07\\\/22\\\/the-url-shortener-contest\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mccordweb.com\\\/weblogs\\\/2009\\\/07\\\/22\\\/the-url-shortener-contest\\\/\",\"name\":\"The URL Shortener Contest | The Web Authority\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mccordweb.com\\\/weblogs\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-07-22T09:43:39+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mccordweb.com\\\/weblogs\\\/2009\\\/07\\\/22\\\/the-url-shortener-contest\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mccordweb.com\\\/weblogs\\\/2009\\\/07\\\/22\\\/the-url-shortener-contest\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mccordweb.com\\\/weblogs\\\/2009\\\/07\\\/22\\\/the-url-shortener-contest\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mccordweb.com\\\/weblogs\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The URL Shortener Contest\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mccordweb.com\\\/weblogs\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mccordweb.com\\\/weblogs\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Web Authority | McCord Web Services News\\\/Blog\",\"description\":\"Smart Digital Marketing, Real Business Results - McCord Web Services\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mccordweb.com\\\/weblogs\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mccordweb.com\\\/weblogs\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mccordweb.com\\\/weblogs\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"McCord Web Services LLC\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mccordweb.com\\\/weblogs\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mccordweb.com\\\/weblogs\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mccordweb.com\\\/weblogs\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/McCord-Web-White-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mccordweb.com\\\/weblogs\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/McCord-Web-White-logo.png\",\"width\":450,\"height\":203,\"caption\":\"McCord Web Services LLC\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mccordweb.com\\\/weblogs\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/mccordweb\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/mccordweb\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/nancy_mccord\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/nancymccord\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/mccordweb\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mccordweb.com\\\/weblogs\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7499f3ac0b008bc0e5b7a138ac1dc0ba\",\"name\":\"Nancy McCord\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/84f303fb7bc8bf9e3aa944d8a2b0913642ca2c0cb4e244d9bbea83c59dac189e?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/84f303fb7bc8bf9e3aa944d8a2b0913642ca2c0cb4e244d9bbea83c59dac189e?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/84f303fb7bc8bf9e3aa944d8a2b0913642ca2c0cb4e244d9bbea83c59dac189e?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nancy McCord\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.mccordweb.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The URL Shortener Contest | The Web Authority","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/2009\/07\/22\/the-url-shortener-contest\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The URL Shortener Contest | The Web Authority","og_description":"Which URL shortener are you using on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn? Do you even care? Well you should! URL shorteners are not all created equal. In fact one of my colleagues reamed me out for using www.TinyURL.com just the other day. If you use any social networking platforms then you know you have a limited amount of space in which to say what you want to say. Well, what if you want to link to something on your website or online? Here’s where a URL shortener is necessary. You can take a big URL like: http:\/\/searchengineland.com\/analysis-which-url-shortening-service-should-you-use-17204 and turn it into a itty bitty URL like this: http:\/\/bit.ly\/ZuUw Big difference right? In fact if you click either of the links above you will go to a nice article reviewing the different URL shorteners that are popular. Search Engine Land even lays it out graphically so you can see what you think is important in one glance. Personally I use www.Bit.ly as my shortener when I have a choice. Some social networking services do not give you a choice and some use www.TinyURL.com as their default, but there are some nice reasons why you should evaluate which one you use and then stick with it.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/2009\/07\/22\/the-url-shortener-contest\/","og_site_name":"The Web Authority","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mccordweb","article_published_time":"2009-07-22T09:43:39+00:00","author":"Nancy McCord","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@mccordweb","twitter_site":"@mccordweb","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nancy McCord","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/2009\/07\/22\/the-url-shortener-contest\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/2009\/07\/22\/the-url-shortener-contest\/"},"author":{"name":"Nancy McCord","@id":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/#\/schema\/person\/7499f3ac0b008bc0e5b7a138ac1dc0ba"},"headline":"The URL Shortener Contest","datePublished":"2009-07-22T09:43:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/2009\/07\/22\/the-url-shortener-contest\/"},"wordCount":219,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/#organization"},"keywords":["Facebook","Twitter"],"articleSection":["Tips","Twitter"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/2009\/07\/22\/the-url-shortener-contest\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/2009\/07\/22\/the-url-shortener-contest\/","url":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/2009\/07\/22\/the-url-shortener-contest\/","name":"The URL Shortener Contest | The Web Authority","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-07-22T09:43:39+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/2009\/07\/22\/the-url-shortener-contest\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/2009\/07\/22\/the-url-shortener-contest\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/2009\/07\/22\/the-url-shortener-contest\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The URL Shortener Contest"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/","name":"The Web Authority | McCord Web Services News\/Blog","description":"Smart Digital Marketing, Real Business Results - McCord Web Services","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/#organization","name":"McCord Web Services LLC","url":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/McCord-Web-White-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/McCord-Web-White-logo.png","width":450,"height":203,"caption":"McCord Web Services LLC"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mccordweb","https:\/\/x.com\/mccordweb","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/nancy_mccord\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/nancymccord","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/mccordweb"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/#\/schema\/person\/7499f3ac0b008bc0e5b7a138ac1dc0ba","name":"Nancy McCord","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/84f303fb7bc8bf9e3aa944d8a2b0913642ca2c0cb4e244d9bbea83c59dac189e?s=96&d=blank&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/84f303fb7bc8bf9e3aa944d8a2b0913642ca2c0cb4e244d9bbea83c59dac189e?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/84f303fb7bc8bf9e3aa944d8a2b0913642ca2c0cb4e244d9bbea83c59dac189e?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Nancy McCord"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.mccordweb.com"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1110"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1115,"href":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1110\/revisions\/1115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mccordweb.com\/weblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}