The web addresses at places like Google Maps, Amazon.com, Expedia, eBay Auctions, Digg.com or even Google Searches are often long, cryptic and almost impossible to remember.
Thankfully, there exists more than a dozen URL shortening services on the Internet that convert them these extra long URLs into short and sweet links that you can easily copy-paste in emails, Usenet groups, IM's or even SMS text messages.
Here's a quick review of the most popular URL redirection servicesto help you pick the right one for your job.
TinyURL.com - This is a name synonymous with URL redirection with maximum number of users. You can drag their bookmarklet in your browser and create short URLs in a single click. The advantage is that users can preview the web address embedded in TinyURL before visiting the actual website. With Preview, Without Preview
urlTea.com - A relatively new but promising URL shortening service. It allows you to describe or annotate the destination website in the short URL itself. For instance, http://urltea.com/g20 is the same as http://urltea.com/g20?my_site but the latter makes more sense to the visitor. And you can also use Google Talk or Yahoo! Messenger to create short URLs through a buddy called teabot@urltea.com.
SnipURL.com - With SnipURL, you can choose your own web address with some meaningful text instead of using random addresses generated by tinyurl.com. This will help visitors get an idea of what they are about to click. It is possible to modify the underlying URL without changing the existing SnipURL address. Best of all, SnipURL can generate private URLs that can only be accessed after providing a password.
Shorl.com - This may well be the favorite URL redirect service for bloggers and website owners since it provides usage statistics of your short URLs (i.e., Number of Hits). When a user clicks a URL created by shorl.com, he is shown the web address of the destination for few seconds before the actual redirection.
Now that's an intelligent design since users can opt-out even after clicking the short URL. Nothing deceptive about it.
Final Thoughts - Shorl.com gives control in the hands of the user and automatically increases the level of trust. SnipURL gives you click through stats and more control over URL text so that makes it my favorite URL shortening service.
[I personally use these services for sharing hyperlinks in my newspaper columns that are published in the Hindustan Times and Financial Express.]
Read: How to Copy-Paste Text Notes Among Computers
Find this article at: http://labnol.blogspot.com/2007/04/convert-long-complicated-web-addresses.html
web: http://www.labnol.org/ email: amit@labnol.org
Reader Comments
I will recommend you to have your own website do such things instead of using these services, reason branding.
It is very simple to do, just add a simpler 301 redirect.
One such example is here
HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
X-Powered-By: PHP/5.2.1
Location: http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?ovi=1&mqma
Content-type: text/html
Content-Length: 0
Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2007 18:25:13 GMT
Server: TinyURL/1.5
I wonder why there do not have a robots.txt http://tinyurl.com/robots.txt
Also it contains a lot of spams - http://www.google.com/search?q=site:tinyurl.com&hl=en&start=10&sa=N
Written on 28/4/07 12:00 AM
Hi, I have another service to add. It's Fype.com. In fype, you can also choose what short URL you want as well as being chosen a random URL. Furthermore it can be used to host webpages for free.
Written on 27/4/07 11:57 PM
In French you have Redir.fr, really useful too ;-)
Written on 28/4/07 12:02 AM
Friends, i would recommend to check out http://c-o.in and http://co.nr both these site hide the original long URL, the ones mentioned by Amit and Sylvia re-directs to the long URL eg. http://fype.com/radiowiki
Written on 2/5/07 10:00 PM
You might also try:
http://www.feedbus.com/shorturls/
for a list of other services
Written on 4/5/07 5:08 PM
No educated comparison of these services would leave out Snipurl. Unlike weird URls like the one the previous commenter posted, it's a well recognized name, and their array of functionality since 2001 trumps pretty much every knock off service it has inspired. Tiny became popular because it's a 5-line code that can be exploited by anyone, even spammers.
Written on 24/9/07 6:20 PM
Check out: traceurl.com
TraceURL shortens any URL plus it tracks traffic to the page through the TraceURL shortened web site address, showing where the traffic originated. This can be a useful tool for anyone trying to track which promotional tactics are working the best. Count accesses and have the origin of the visitor displayed on a Google Map.
Written on 1/11/07 7:00 PM