Google's url shortener (Update)

1/ Will Google's url shortener change search engine optimisation?

Google has just upped the prominence of its url shortening software by giving it its own web address - goo.gl. But, will the move make any significant difference to website optimisation?

There are a number of url shortening services out there on the internet, the most prolific to date being tinyurl.com. While long web addresses, crammed with keywords and relevant information - both for users and for search engine crawlers - can be useful; they can also be a burden. For one, an url that is hundreds of characters long is unlikely to be shared on social networking websites. Since social media and search engine optimisation are getting ever closer together, your business will want to overcome any obstacle that could hamper the spread of an effective search engine marketing strategy - including exceedingly verbose urls.

The problem is, however, shortened urls mean redirecting through a third party website, and while condensed web addresses have been picked up by Twitter users - because of the character limit of tweets - they are still a long way off being used by businesses in their search engine optimisation strategies, which often include link building and redirection.

Commenting on the latest addition to the Google stable of software, an engineer at the firm, Muthu Muthusrinivasan, said: "We don't intend to overload goo.gl with features, but we do want it to be the most stable, most secure, and fastest URL shortener on the web.


2/ Google URL Shortener ‘May Bring SEO Benefits’

A full launch of the goo.gl service, which turns long URLs into short URLs, took place last week, making it easier for users to share links on social networking sites such as Twitter.

According to an article on Search Engine Watch, link building efforts may be improved by goo.gl, as more links are shared on social networks and click-through rates increase.

"Goo.gl could work into Google's ranking algorithm and become a factor in real-time search results and possibly even regular search results if the shortener proves popular," the website added.

It went on to point out that Google will potentially be able to assess link sharing trends on social networks and factor those results into its ranking algorithm.

3/ Google shortener can improve SEO link-building efforts

Google has introduced a new URL shortener, which can have an impact in search engine optimization (SEO) campaigns.

Goo.gl converts long URLs to shorter URLs, allowing users to share and post links on social networking sites like Twitter.

The new tool can be used to improve link-building campaigns, because more browsers will be able to post long-written URLs.

According to representatives from the search engine, Goo.gl can be a real-time search factor for search results and can be detrimental to search rankings in the future.