Have you ever used a link shortener on any of your email marketing campaigns?
They’re a handy way to send a long URL to someone using just a few characters. And while they’re nothing new (TinyURL turns 10 in January 2012), they’ve become particularly popular since the rise of Twitter, Facebook and other communication mediums where space is at a premium.
Chances are, you’ve looked at a long link in one of your emails and thought, “It’d be nice if that link weren’t quite so long,” and been tempted to use a link shortening service.
But did you know that link shorteners could potentially hurt your email deliverability rates?
Link shorteners are handy for trimming down long URLs.
But in addition to offering that convenience, they perform one other function: they mask where a link actually goes.
This makes them appealing to spammers who either:
Don’t want recipients to see their actual website domains, or
Don’t want ISPs and other organizations to be able to filter out their spam by blocking emails that have the spammer’s domain in the body of the email.
Of course, some legitimate email marketers may find the idea of shortening links appealing, too. This is particularly true for those who send plain text emails, since in an HTML email you can simply link whatever text or image you want, as you would on a webpage.
The potential problem happens when both a spammer and you use the same link shortener in your emails. If one or more ISPs start blocking emails that include that link shortening domain (to block the spammer), they may inadvertently block your emails, too.
AWeber Email Marketing Tips
Are Blacklisted Link Shorteners Getting Your Emails Blocked?
Have you ever used a link shortener on any of your email marketing campaigns?
They’re a handy way to send a long URL to someone using just a few characters. And while they’re nothing new (TinyURL turns 10 in January 2012), they’ve become particularly popular since the rise of Twitter, Facebook and other communication mediums where space is at a premium.
Chances are, you’ve looked at a long link in one of your emails and thought, “It’d be nice if that link weren’t quite so long,” and been tempted to use a link shortening service.
But did you know that link shorteners could potentially hurt your email deliverability rates?
How Link Shorteners Can Affect Deliverability
Link shorteners are handy for trimming down long URLs.
But in addition to offering that convenience, they perform one other function: they mask where a link actually goes.
This makes them appealing to spammers who either:
Don’t want recipients to see their actual website domains, or
Don’t want ISPs and other organizations to be able to filter out their spam by blocking emails that have the spammer’s domain in the body of the email.
Of course, some legitimate email marketers may find the idea of shortening links appealing, too. This is particularly true for those who send plain text emails, since in an HTML email you can simply link whatever text or image you want, as you would on a webpage.
The potential problem happens when both a spammer and you use the same link shortener in your emails. If one or more ISPs start blocking emails that include that link shortening domain (to block the spammer), they may inadvertently block your emails, too.