URL shorteners are underrated.
Many people use them to do exactly what the term says: shorten URLs. These links are cleaner and smaller and make for easier sharing and clicking. But easier-to-use links are just the start. With URL shorteners, you can drive more click-throughs and make your campaigns more visually appealing.
But it's still tempting to simply copy and paste a long URL, especially if you have a large batch of links that need to be shortened.
You don't have to manually create those short links, though. With Zapier, you can automatically create shortened URLs every time you publish content, add new products to your site, track links in a spreadsheet, easily monitor who interacts with your links, and more.
Here are some popular ways to automate your URL shorteners.
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You'll need a Zapier account to use the workflows in this piece. If you don't have an account yet, it's free to get started. And if these workflows don't meet your needs, you can explore more in our App Directory or within the Zap Editor.
Create short links for your content and files
When you create new blog posts in your content management system (CMS), you can use a Zap to automatically shorten the published link for you. That way, every time you publish content, you can ensure your links are automatically available in a presentable, shareable format.
Create a new Bitlink each time you post to Wordpress
Create bitlinks for new Tumblr blog posts with Bitly
But what about when you save your draft content in Google Drive or other storage systems? For easier collaboration and sharing, you can use these Zaps to shorten the URLs of all your folder links, so team members can effortlessly access, review, and edit documents without having to navigate through lengthy or cumbersome URLs.
Create shortened urls for new Google Docs documents with URL Shortener by Zapier
Discover how to automate Bitly with Zapier.
Shorten URLs for your email marketing campaigns
Want to streamline your email campaigns?
By using any of these Zaps, you can shorten the URLs of every new campaign you create in your email tool. That way, you can make your email efforts more appealing and clickable—and easily share those links across social media platforms and elsewhere.
Shorten urls for new Mailchimp campaigns with URL Shortener by Zapier
Create a new Bitlink each time you send a Mailchimp campaign
Add new Flodesk subscribers to segment, then shorten urls with URL Shortener by Zapier
Automatically shorten links you store in a spreadsheet
If you work in spreadsheets, you can automatically shorten URLs as you add them to a Google Sheet or make updates to existing data.
Create Rebrandly links from a Google Sheets spreadsheet
Create Short.cm links when rows are updated in Google Sheets
Shorten urls for new or updated Google Sheets rows with URL Shortener by Zapier
The more you use your URL shortener tools, the more URLs you're going to have to track. That can become unwieldy, especially as your list of shortened URLs grows.
But with Zaps, it's easy to keep track of all your new links.
Automatically track new links in a spreadsheet to sort and find duplicates.
Create Google Sheet rows for new bitlinks in Bitly
Use short URLs in your online store
Shortened URLs also help get you closer to the point of conversion. With Zaps, you can automatically create short links each time you add new products, update orders, or take payments.
Create a new Bitlink each time you add a product to Big Cartel
Create alias URLs in Shorten.REST for new updated orders in Shopify
Create branded short URLs for new Quickbooks online payment records via Shorten.REST
Monitor link activity
Link shorteners don't just give you shorter links; they give you better ones. You can use tools like Bitly and Rebrandly to track who interacts with your links. Use these Zaps to leverage that data.
Automatically monitor link activity for performance and engagement over time, and set up notifications to alert the team whenever a link hits a certain goal.
Post to Slack for each new domain referrer on your Bitlink
Send a Gmail email whenever a Rebrandly link reaches a number of clicks
Get Slack notification when Rebrandly links reach a number of clicks
Share shortened URLs on social media
Social media presents one of the best use cases for shortened URLs, especially given length restrictions on posts. With short links, you can preserve character counts on social posts. Plus, you can brand shortened URLs so they're recognizable when other social media profiles share your links.
Automatically share shortened URLs (like events) to your own social accounts.
Post new Eventbrite events to Buffer with shortened URLs
Go beyond the basic benefits of URL shorteners
The advantages of URL shorteners are greater than just shorter URLs.
When you shorten your URLs with one of these apps, you'll drive higher click-through rates and have more data to better inform your strategies. And once you connect these apps via Zapier, you get even more done with less effort—all thanks to automation.
Get more value for the work you put in: when you shorten your URLs, you also shorten your to-do list.
This article was originally published in September 2020. It was most recently updated in November 2023 by Elena Alston.
