Are URL shorteners like bit.ly bad for email deliverability?

Marketer from Email Geeks explains that bit.ly links often have a bad reputation because they are frequently abused, which is generally the case for many third-party domains you have no control over.

Email marketer from Litmus explains that some email clients view URL shortening as a form of link cloaking, which can trigger spam filters. It is recommended to use full, transparent URLs or branded short links to avoid deliverability issues.

Email marketer from Neil Patel explains that using URL shorteners can negatively impact your SEO, as it hides the destination URL from the user and search engines. This can hurt your rankings and brand reputation.

Email marketer from HubSpot shares that using branded short links can help increase brand recognition and trust, improving click-through rates and overall email deliverability. Custom short domains provide a more professional look and prevent emails from being flagged as spam.

Email marketer from Mailjet explains that using a custom domain for link shortening improves email deliverability and builds trust with recipients because it maintains brand consistency and avoids the negative reputation associated with public URL shorteners.

Marketer from Email Geeks says that a misconfigured shortener lets anyone use it to shorten any link - not just to your domain leading to your link-shortner domain ending up in spam messages.

Email marketer from Reddit user u/AffiliateDude states that it's generally best to avoid using URL shorteners for affiliate links in email marketing because some email providers flag these links as suspicious, impacting deliverability and potentially leading to your emails ending up in the spam folder.

Email marketer from G2 writes that a major downside of using URL shorteners is the potential for reduced transparency and trust. Recipients may be hesitant to click on shortened links, especially if they don't recognize the URL shortening service, which could lead to lower engagement rates.

Marketer from Email Geeks suggests avoiding URL shorteners all together if possible.

Email marketer from StackExchange user states that from their experience, it's better to use your own domain or a subdomain for links and track the clicks yourself. This not only gives you more control over your data but also helps establish trust with your recipients, improving deliverability.

Marketer from Email Geeks suggests that, in general, any link shortener is bad news and should not be used.

Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum states that from their experience, using free URL shorteners can sometimes cause emails to land in the spam folder, especially if the shortener has been used for spam in the past. They recommend using a custom branded domain for shortening links to improve deliverability.

Email marketer from ZeroBounce says that using URL shorteners can damage your sender reputation if the shortened links are associated with spam or malicious content. Maintaining a clean sender reputation is crucial for email deliverability.

Email marketer from SendPulse shares that using URL shorteners can harm your email deliverability if the shortened links are flagged as spammy or malicious by email providers. They recommend using branded short links instead.

Marketer from Email Geeks states if you're using your own shortlink, please make sure it's not misconfigured and open to abuse.

Expert from Word to the Wise warns against relying solely on short URLs for tracking, as the destination could be changed after the email is sent, leading to inaccurate data. They advise using caution and considering alternative tracking methods.

Expert from Email Geeks explains that if the sending tool is tracking clicks, it’s wrapping the link in its own redirect already and each additional redirect is a chance for failure.

Expert from Spam Resource explains that short URLs are frequently used in unsolicited email to hide the true destination of the link. They advise recipients to exercise caution when clicking on short URLs, especially if the email is unexpected.

Expert from Email Geeks shares a link from wordtothewise.com stating that using bit.ly has been problematic for over a decade.

Expert from Email Geeks clarifies that any *public* link shortener is bad but private ones can be fine.

Documentation from RFC Editor explains that excessive HTTP redirections due to short URLs can slow down browsing experience and might be flagged by security software due to potential phishing attempts.

Documentation from Google Search Central explains that cloaking or sneaky redirects are a violation of Google's Webmaster Guidelines because they present different content to users than to search engine crawlers. This can harm your site's ranking.

Documentation from Cloudflare support explains that using multiple redirects, which can happen with URL shorteners, can increase latency and potentially trigger security warnings in browsers, thus impacting user experience and email deliverability.

Documentation from Spamhaus explains that URL shorteners are often used by spammers to hide malicious links, leading to many URL shortening services being blocklisted. Being on such a blocklist will negatively affect email deliverability.