Short Answer: Best URL Shorteners for most people are PrettyLinks for its easy-to-use WordPress plugin, Bitly provides a comprehensive solution for mid-size to large businesses and ShortifyUrl for individuals looking for a free and affordable plan.
Link shortening is the most used method in making shorter URLs and analyzing your short URL’s performance.
The analytics you get from the link shortener provides you with important analytics or data about the website or even the users. This analytics shows some hidden insight that can be helpful in your affiliate marketing campaign.
For instance, knowing a customer’s location is one of the most powerful pieces of information when it comes to marketing your business. To find out more about the best tools for shortening URLs, continue reading to the end so you will not miss any information on this best-curated list. Now let’s get started.
What is a URL Shortener?
Before you dive into the list, knowing what they are would be a great idea. Link shorteners are tools that you can use to shorten long URLs into short ones. Apart from this primary functionality, they have other functions that are added advantages to your business.
For example, once you generate the shortened link, you will have the capability to manage and manipulate the link. You can track the link through the analytic data or the reports.
Therefore, a simple answer to the question of what URL shortening is is tools that can help you create shorter URLs and track the performance of your shorter link, and benefit from other features of the tools. Now let’s look at the reasons that might lead to the shortening of the affiliate links.
Reasons to use short links?
Apart from just shortening the affiliate links, different reasons will make you switch to using the URL shortener. In this section, you will have a look at some of these reasons;
Looks better
The obvious reason is that shortened links look better. Remember, affiliate marketing is about grabbing your audience’s attention to win them so they can buy the services or products you are promoting. When you shorten the affiliate links, they will be visually appealing, and the audience is more likely to trust the shorter links than the longer ones.
Tracking the performance
To be organized in affiliate marketing is to track your marketing and get insights to know the result of the campaign about a given service or product through the affiliate link. With the Link Shortener, you will be able to get the analytical data about the link and understand how it was engaging or if should you adjust the marketing strategy.
Having few characters
There are other platforms where you would want to share your affiliate links with other pieces of information; however, some of the platforms would give you a limited number of characters that you can type branded links in and share. In this scenario, you can shorten the link and use these platforms that restrict you from inputting a few words or characters.
Raising the click rate.
People would prefer to click on a shorter link on social media platforms than they could click a longer link. Therefore, if you want to improve your effectiveness on these platforms, it would be much better to use a short link.
Improving SEO and backlinks
Since short links will act as redirects, they will be counted to your SEO and backlink since they are pointing to your custom domain or affiliate website. The shortened links improve the SEO since the links are linked to your pages, blogs, medial social pages, and other platforms.
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Pretty links is among the best and most powerful tools for automation, link management, short links management, and affiliate marketing management. It comes with numerous features that are useful for managing and organizing your affiliate links or other links on your website. This tool can be able to customize the link and look better while at the same time retaining all the important elements of your original link.
Key features
- Cloak the affiliate links and keep your affiliate id hidden.
- SEO improvements through proper redirecting of your affiliate links.
- Convenient in affiliate links management from different brands under the same dashboard.
- Link analysis and tracking of its performance to know why it is performing or not.
- The setting of expiration dates to make sure of given events.
Pricing
- Beginner – $79/ year, auto-creation of links, advance redirects, use on one website, one-year support, auto-link keywords.
- Marketer – $99 / year. Use on two websites, advance redirects, auto links creation, advance add-ons, one-year support, and auto-link keywords.
- Super Affiliate – $149 / year. Use on five websites, advance redirects, priority support, one-year support, advance features, auto-link keywords, and auto-creation of links.
Pro Tip: 14-days money-back guarantee.
It is one of the best, most powerful, and most popular free URL shortener tools that are out on the mark. With Bitly, you can shorten links and access the functionality of tracking the links. They offer both free and premium services to its user. You will be able to create shortened links with Bit.ly in your link for the freemium version, but you can customize your links for the premium version.
Key features
- Affiliate links customization.
- Analytic data and affiliate marketing management.
- Building powerful links and sharing.
- Integrating with other businesses like salesforce marketing, Hootsuite, and many others.
- Increasing your links engagement.
Pricing
- Free – 0/mo. 50 links/mo., unlimited clicks, app integration, link reporting, links history customization of the back haves
- Basic – $35/mo., 1500 links per month, branded links, custom domain, bulk shortening, link redirects, QR Codes.
- Premium – $300/mo., 3000 links/mo., campaigns, branded links, dashboard analytics, location data, and user device data.
- Custom – customized price, 10,000+ links, multi-user account, link generation, compressive reporting, personalized onboarding, and other free features
Pro Tip: Save up to 34% when you pay annually.
Another powerful and best Link shortener with advanced technology and numerous features is Rebrandly. You can utilize this tool as your digital tool for branding, custom, and memorable short links. You can use the tool to create and, at the same time, share the links to different social network platforms. Also, it allows you to create a workspace where you can work with your teammates.
Key features
- Building and sharing short links.
- Integration with other brands.
- Creating branded or customized links.
- Customized reports.
- Customized teammate’s workspace.
- Managing different links on one platform.
Pricing
- Free – $0/mo., unlimited redirects, five custom links, 5000 tracked links, and 500 branded links.
- Starter – $29/mo., unlimited redirects, 25000 tracked links, 5000 branded links, five custom domains links
- Pro – $89/mo., unlimited redirects, 150000 tracked links, 15000 branded links, and five custom domain links.
- Premium – $499/mo., unlimited redirects, 1,500,000 tracked links, 150,000 branded links, 20 custom domains links, 31 custom reports, ten active member
- Enterprise – Custom price, unlimited redirects, custom tracked links, custom branded links, custom domain links, custom reports, and a custom active member.
Pro Tip: Save up to 16% on the paid plans with the annual billing option.
It is another shortening platform that is a perfect option for shortening your links once in a while. If you do not shorten links often, then with the freemium plan, you will be able to do a lot with it. Using the tool is simple, and you have the instruction provided on the official website for you to use the platform. Though the tool is simple, you will be able to track all the key metrics or link analytics with the free account. However, if you want to deal with multiple links, it will be better to switch to paid plans.
Key features
- Clean and easy-to-use interface.
- Different URL types for a short link, preview, and long link.
- Fast redirection.
- Customization of the shortened links
Anonymous usage.
Pricing
- Free – $0/mo., custom links, performance tracking, one user account.
- Pro – $9.9/mo., branded links, unlimited monitoring, URL editing, link tagging, and more features
- Bulk 100k – $99.9/mo., massive shortened links, timeline links, branded domains, and compressive analytics.
Another best tool that you can use as a google URL Shortener alternative is ClickMeter. It comes with numerous features and a click rate optimizer. If you are an agency or an advertiser who normally uses Google AdWords and other advertising platforms, then this is best for you to create numerous clicks. This is your tool if you have a global audience and are using different languages since it is a locational base tool.
Key features
- Meet targeted visitors and increase the conversion rate.
- Tracing, clicks, views, or conversion.
- Share data with coworker or partner.
- Monitoring your affiliate links
Pricing
- Medium – $29/mo., 25000 track/mo., one custom domain, and one-year storage.
- Large – $99/mo., 200000 track/mo., ten custom domains, two-year storage, fraud protection.
- X-large – $349/mo., 2000000 track/mo., 100 custom domains, three-year storage, fraud protection, dedicated support.
Pro Tip: 30-Day Money Back Guarantee.
It is one of the best URL-shortening tools that you can use to create short links that can redirect to any website of your choice. When the link is clicked, you get a notification with a user location and other useful information. You will get the notification base on your settings, like immediately after every hour, daily, or weekly. You can create the links and share them on various social media posts and networking platforms using the tool with this platform.
Key features
- Real-time notification once the link is clicked.
- Setting the frequency on how you want to get the analytic data.
- Custom domains to create branded links that have a high click rate.
- Creating and sharing to any platform using the platform.
- Live dashboard with useful insights.
Pricing
- Free – $0/mo., 100 links, fast redirects, unlimited tracking, QR codes, live dashboards, custom URL.
- Standard – $49/mo., unlimited links, unlimited tracking, unlimited branded links, one free domain, live dashboard, unlimited support, fast redirects, QR codes, custom URL.
- Enterprise – contract, fast redirects, unlimited links, unlimited tracking, live dashboards, custom domain, dedicated support, free SSL certificate, QR codes, and unlimited branded links.
Pro Tip: : Save up to 20% on the paid plans with the annual billing option.
It is among the best URL shortener tool that you can use for your affiliate links. You can shorten the link by pasting it into a text box and clicking the shorten button. Also, you can customize your shortened URL slug. The platform provides free and paid plans that you can use. Note that the freemium version does not have advanced features like the paid subscription.
Key features
- Add the brand logo to your short links.
- Managing multiple custom domains and clients using the same account.
- Tracking the performance of your affiliate marketing.
- Customization of your URL slug
Easier and simple dashboard.
Pricing
- Basic – $5/mo., one custom domain, 2 users, 500 links, 1000 clicks/day/link
- Basic – $25/mo., three custom domain, 10 users, 10000 links, 5000 clicks/day/link
- Pro – $44/mo., ten custom domain, 500 users, 15000 links, 50000 clicks/day/link
- Enterprise – custom pricing, custom features
Pro Tip: Save around 10% on the paid plans with the annual billing option.
One of the newest URL shorteners with advanced tools to shorten, and create QR codes, CTA overlays, customer splash pages, and many others. ShortifyUrl offers smart targeting to target your customers to increase reach and redirect them to the relevant page.
ShortifyUrl help target your users to better understand their behavior and provide them a better overall experience through smart re-targeting.
Key features
- Add a pixel to retarget them in your social media ad campaign to capture them.
- Easy to use, dynamic, and customizable QR codes for your marketing campaigns.
- Create a custom landing page to promote your product.
- CTA overlays for polls, notifications, and campaigns.
- Branded domain names.
- Device and geo-targeting.
- Advance data analytics.
Pricing
- Free Plan – Limited features (200 free ulrs)
- Basic – $6.45 (up to 1000 urls)
- Advanced – $14.95 (unlimited)
Pro Tip: Save around 25% on the paid plans with the annual billing option. Special pricing for non-profits and charities.
It is another best and custom tool you can use as a google URL Shortener alternative. The tool has all the features you might need to do a task, like tracking the link performance and even managing the links. You can track the use and measure your affiliate marketing performance using the detailed analysis provided by this tool.
Key features
- Support link branding.
- Custom data reports or analytics.
- Link retargeting.
- UTM builder.
- URL shortening.
Pricing
- Free – $0/mo., three custom domains, unlimited affiliate links, unlimited branded links, unlimited redirects.
- Single monthly – $25/mo., 35 custom domains, unlimited affiliate links, unlimited branded links, unlimited redirects.
- Team Monthly – $99/mo., ten custom domains, unlimited affiliate links, branded links, and unlimited redirects.
- Team enterprise Monthly – $149/mo., 99 custom domains, unlimited affiliate links, branded links, and unlimited redirects.
Pro Tip: Get 1 months off by switching to the annual billing option on all paid plans.
Bl.INK is one of the best and most robust Link shorteners you can find in the market. It also provides branded links with the relevant character from your link. Once you create your short links, you can share them to different platforms, and then on the same tool, you can get the analytical report for the performance of the links.
Key features
- It can be integrated with other advanced analytical tools to track the performance of the links.
- Support branded links
- Bulk links editing
- Flexible plans
- Customization per your needs
Pricing
- Expert+ – $48/mo., unlimited redirects, 10000 active links, 7500 clicked tracking/link, three users, and 15 domains.
- SMB – $99/mo., unlimited redirects, 50000 active links, 15000 clicked tracking/link, 15 users, 30 domains, 200 dynamic links
- TEAM – $299/mo., unlimited redirects, 250000 active links, 30000 clicked tracking/link, 25 users, 60 domains, 250 dynamic links
- Business – $599/mo., unlimited redirects, 500000 active links, 60000 clicked tracking/link, 50 users, 100 domains, 1000 dynamic links.
- Enterprise – Custom price., unlimited redirects, custom features
Frequenly Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q. Can you shorten affiliate links?
Yes. You can shorten the affiliate links since they gain a great look, and at the same time, they promote your website backlinks and SEO.
Q. Do affiliate links damage SEO?
No, in general. However, with recent changes to the Google algorithm, we have seen heavily affiliate link websites have been penalized by Google.
