Top 10 Tips for Creating Effective Short URLs

Published March 07, 2025 · GoTo.now Team

TL;DR - A short URL only works if people can read it, say it, trust it, and remember it. These ten tips cover all four. Most take about ten seconds to apply, and they can double the clicks you get from the same link.

Key points

• Short, plain words beat random letters every time
• A custom ending turns your link into a tiny ad for your brand
• Test every link yourself before you share it anywhere
• Pick a shortener whose links never expire
• Add a QR code so the same link works on paper too

Anyone can paste a link into a shortener and hit a button. That's not the hard part. The hard part is making a short link that people actually click - And these ten tips are the difference between the two.

Make it short enough to say out loud

Here's a quick test I use for every link: could you read it to someone over the phone? If the answer is no, it's not done yet.

That rules out a few things right away:

1. Random strings. goto.now/Xk29dQ means nothing to anyone.
2. Special characters. Symbols like ! and $ confuse people and break in some apps.
3. Long number chains. Nobody remembers goto.now/promo20250714b.
4. Tricky spellings. If you have to spell it out letter by letter, pick a different word.

What passes the test? Plain words. goto.now/menu. goto.now/spring-sale. goto.now/tickets. Simple wins.

Let the link say what it is

A short link with a custom ending - The part after the slash - Does two jobs at once. It tells people where they're going, and it puts your brand or offer right in the link.

Compare goto.now/8jx2p with goto.now/free-sample. Same destination. Very different feeling before you tap. Readable links get noticeably more clicks because people trust what they can read.

On GoTo.now, a custom back-half is free with an account. Use a product name, a campaign word, or your brand. Just keep it to one or two words.

Pick a shortener that won't quit on you

Your short link is only as good as the service behind it. Two things matter most here.

First, expiration. Some shorteners kill links after a few months unless you pay. That's how a QR code on last year's flyer turns into a dead end. GoTo.now links never expire, so anything you print stays alive.

Second, tracking. A good shortener counts every click for you - Total clicks, countries, devices, referrers. On GoTo.now those numbers are private to you, in your own dashboard. Nobody else can see them.

Check it, test it, then share it

This tip is boring and it will save you at least once. Before a link goes out to the world:

• Click it yourself, on your phone and your laptop
• Make sure it lands on the exact page you meant, not the homepage
• If someone sent you a shortened link, run it through the link checker to see where it really goes before passing it on

A broken link in an email to 5,000 people is a bad morning. Thirty seconds of testing prevents it.

Give every link a paper version

Your short link handles the online world. A QR code handles everything else - Posters, packaging, table tents, business cards.

Every link you make on GoTo.now comes with a free QR code, and you can set its colors and drop in your logo. Better still, the code stays editable after printing. If the destination changes, you update the link and the printed code just keeps working. No reprints, unlimited scans.

Ten tips, one habit

Look back at the list and you'll notice these tips are really one habit: think about the person on the other end of the link. Can they read it? Say it? Trust it? Scan it from across a table? Will it still work in a year?

Get in that habit and effective short URLs stop being something you have to think about. Paste your next long link into GoTo.now, give it a clean ending, test it once, and send it out. That's the whole routine - And it's free.