Oct 8, 2010 at 3:59pm ET by Danny Sullivan

In my "how to choose a URL shortener" article last year, I warned that the country domain that a shortener used might be an issue to consider. A year later, that's even more so, as a Libyan .ly domain used for an adult content shortener has been closed. Libyan Registrar Takes Back Domain Earlier this week, Nic.ly -- a domain registrar in Libya that handles Libyans domains -- took back the vb.ly domain from its American owners, after it was in use for a year. Reason? The owners, Ben Metcalfe and noted sex blogger Violet Blue, were told the domain was violated Nic.ly's terms as it was being [...]

Related Topics: SEM Tools: URL Shorteners | Top News

Google URL Shortener Opened To The Public; Comparing To Bit.ly & Twitter

Sep 30, 2010 at 4:07pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Just what the world needs, another URL shortener, right? Google seems to think so, and it's now making its own Goo.gl service widely available to anyone -- complete with tracking and statistics -- for free. Below, more about the new entry, how it compares to the more established Bit.ly plus a look at Twitter's "wrapping" service. Dashboard To View What You've Shortened Google began offering its own shortening service last December, saying it was something they especially thought Google Toolbar users and those using its Feedburner service would want. Now it's being offered to anyone [...]

Is Twitter Sending You 500% To 1600% More Traffic Than You Might Think?

Jul 18, 2009 at 2:48pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Earlier I posted that Google Analytics and other JavaScript-based tracking tools might be undercounting visits from Twitter. I've done some more digging, which supports the case. In my test, Twitter seems to have sent 500% to 1600% more traffic than log files or hosted stats packages like Google Analytics might show. How Twitter Might Send Far More Traffic Than You Think is my earlier article that explains how I'd often seen big gaps in how many people apparently clicked on a tweeted link as measured by Bit.ly versus how many page views that Google Analytics was showing. To test th [...]

How Twitter Might Send Far More Traffic Than You Think

Jun 24, 2009 at 4:43pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Over the past year, I've seen many people report that Twitter can send tons of traffic to a web site. Certainly I've seen first-hand how Twitter has become one of the top non-search referrer sources for Search Engine Land and for some other sites I oversee. But as much as you think Twitter is driving traffic, it might be sending even more that you're unable to measure. One key culprit may be that a large number people view web pages using mobile Twitter applications such as Tweetie. Click on a link from a tweet in some of these applications, and they load web pages using their own br [...]

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