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Blog
Guides and notes on getting more out of URL shortening, QR codes, and link analytics.
Building campaign links with the linkpado UTM builder
How to skip hand-assembling UTM parameters and generate a campaign URL with linkpado's free UTM builder, then shorten it right away.
Read more →Using short links in email marketing
How to keep email bodies and buttons clean, measure which CTA drove clicks by giving each one its own link, and handle links so spam filters trust them.
Read more →Privacy-conscious link analytics: measure clicks, not people
On learning from link data without overreaching: how aggregate insight differs from individual identification, and why good link analytics stays on the aggregate side.
Read more →How to choose a URL shortener: a checklist
A short link is hard to take back once shared. Here are the questions to ask about stability, safety, click counting, readable paths, interstitials, and terms before you pick a tool.
Read more →Measuring offline campaigns: connecting print, packaging, and signage to clicks
Money spent on posters, flyers, packaging inserts, and store signage has long been hard to attribute. Here is how giving each physical placement its own short link tells you which one drove the visit.
Read more →A/B testing with short links
How to compare two versions of a message by giving each its own short link and comparing the clicks, and how far you should trust the result.
Read more →Clicks vs. conversions: measuring what happens after the click
What a click count does and does not tell you, what a conversion is, and how to connect a short link to UTM parameters so you can read the whole funnel from click to conversion.
Read more →Treating short links as assets: a few management habits
A shared short link is hard to recall. Confirm the destination before you create it, name links so you can find them, group them by campaign, keep one place of record, and check periodically that destinations still work.
Read more →Where your clicks come from: reading location, device, and referrer
What the three axes of visit analytics (location, device, and referrer) each tell you, and what decisions you can make from those signals.
Read more →Using short links for SMS and text-message marketing
How a long address eats into a text message’s tight character budget, how a short link keeps the message readable and lets you measure which send drove taps, and how to keep recipients and filters trusting your links.
Read more →Short links for social media and link-in-bio
Why a social profile only gives you one link slot, why posting raw long URLs reads poorly, and how a separate short link per post lets you tell which one drove the traffic.
Read more →How a short code is generated
The difference between sequential and random codes, why the Base58 set drops confusable glyphs, how large the 7-character space is, and how the rare collision is handled.
Read more →Making custom branded short links
Why a meaningful path beats a random code for click-through, trust, and memorability, the trade-off between the two, and the rules for writing a good custom path.
Read more →Do short links affect SEO?
An honest look at how short links relate to search rankings: how search engines follow redirects, what actually gets indexed, and when to use a 301 versus a 302.
Read more →301 vs 302 redirects, explained
How permanent (301/308) and temporary (302/307) redirects differ in browser caching and click counting, and how to choose the right one.
Read more →What is URL shortening and how does it work?
How a long address becomes a short link, how short codes are generated, and why shortening services use a 302 redirect instead of a 301.
Read more →Campaign tracking with UTM parameters and short links
What UTM parameters are and how to add them, and how to wrap an ugly UTM-laden address in a short link to track campaign performance cleanly.
Read more →How to read link click analytics
What visit counts, referrers, and device and region data each mean, and how to interpret the values that show up as "unknown."
Read more →Using QR codes together with short links
Turning a short link into a QR code bridges offline and online. Here are the mistakes people make when printing QR codes, and how to count the scans.
Read more →Avoiding phishing and spam links, and the approved-domain policy
Why short links get abused for phishing, how a person clicking can reduce the risk, and why linkpado only shortens approved domains.
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