What Is A Vanity URL?

Date First Published: 13th February 2023

Topic: Web Design & Development

Subtopic: Web Technologies

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty Level: 6/10

Learn more about what a vanity URL is in this article.

A vanity URL is a shortened and more memorable URL that redirects to a longer URL. Vanity URLs are designed to be more visually appealing, easier to remember, more trustworthy, more sharable, and more tied to a website or other materials. They contain a domain name that has a relevant keyword and are often used in places, such as social media, emails, print publications, and online marketing. Vanity URLs are often referred to as branded links or custom short links.

Regardless of where the business's content is shared, a goal of vanity URLs is consistent branding. Some SEO experts say that vanity URLs can also help provide insights into social traffic, making it easier for businesses to track referrals from social media and mobile apps.

Creating A Vanity URL

Creating a vanity URL requires a new URL structure to be carefully considered. The URL structure should be clear, easy to remember, and contain keywords that the visitor can use to easily identify what they will expect to find by clicking on the link. Businesses can also purchase additional domain names for a vanity URL. For example, if a business's domain name is Business2BusinessITServices.com, the domain name for its vanity URLs could be b2bIT.com.

Third-party hosting services, such as Bitly provide members with an option for creating a custom short domain and issuing vanity URLs free of charge, but a disadvantage of using these services is that it is unclear where the link will take users as they do not contain any keywords relevant to the content, making them look less trustworthy.

Example Of A Vanity URL

Vanity URLs are customisable by individuals and businesses. When constructing a vanity URL, a long web address which may contain complex letters, symbols, and other non-alphanumeric characters is converted into a specified link which is shorter and more sharable. A good example of a vanity URL is the conversion of the long URL below to the shorter vanity URL:

Long URL:

Vanity URL:

The benefits of the second URL are that it looks more trustworthy because it is clearer where it will take users. Users will feel less comfortable clicking on long URLs with lots of letters, numbers, symbols, and other non-alphanumeric characters. In addition, the vanity URL is much easier for customers to remember if it was used in a print publication. For example, if an ad was displayed on a poster and was viewed by people when travelling, it would be much easier for them to directly copy it down for them to look at later on. The second link would be much more suitable to use in a marketing campaign than the first one.

Tips For Vanity URLs

Vanity URLs are useful, but they also need to be used correctly. Below are some tips when using vanity URLs.

• Don't overuse them. A vanity URL does not have to be used for every link. Vanity URLs are used to shorten long URLs. If the URL is already short enough, then there is no need to create a vanity URL. Creating a vanity URL for every link will cause unnecessary delays as users will have to wait to be redirected to the full URL each time.
• Make them clear. Vanity URLs should use relevant keywords to describe the content and users should have an idea of where the link will take them without being misled.
• Consider using a call-to-action in the vanity URL with active words that are easy to pronounce, such as 'Check out now'.

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