How’s this for an interesting tid-bit.ly of news as we mind down another Monday afternoon.
Facebook and Google have jumped feet first into the URL shortening pool, announcing their own shorteners: Fb.me and Goo.gl, respectively.
As Ben Parr points out at Mashable, Google has already (predictably) stated why it’s Goo.gl URL shortener is the best: stability, security, and speed. He also explains that we should prepare to see the Fb.me URL shortener used in a variety of ways soon as both Facebook and Google seem intent on creeping in on the marketshare currently held by Bit.ly.
So what does this mean?
It is too soon to tell right now, but the link shortener arms race is certainly one to keep an eye on from a blogger perspective, especially as you being to think of the search engine optimization and long-term traffic of your blog.
The primary venue where shortened URLs are utilized is through social media. Because Twitter relegates you to 140 characters and because long links Facebook updates just look goofy, URL shorteners have taken off. However, as Rob Garner explains at Search Insider, the rise of shortened URLs raises a number of important questions that must be considered.
A few of these questions include:
- Are you sure you trust your social media traffic to be routed through a third-party domain? (What if it goes out of business?)
- How are search engines reading the shortened URLs? Links are vitally important for search engine optimization but URL shorteners or search engines that are not playing the 301 redirect game correctly could cost you.
My first instinct when I heard this news is to go try out Goo.gl. Every blog I run sees the majority of its traffic (usually 50% or more) come from Google. I think it’s safe to assume that Google will be ensuring that it’s URL shortener is working to accurately communication with its search algorithm and pass link credit properly.
But, as I said, that’s just my first instinct. I have used both Bit.ly and Su.pr to this point for different purposes and have been pleased with both.
One thing is for sure: this will be an important issue moving forward and more and more web activity becomes concentrated in social media. As you progress in your blogging, both in terms of content creation and socialization, you will want to keep your finger on the pulse of this emerging concern.
