{"id":8590,"date":"2026-01-28T19:37:37","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T03:37:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/?p=8590"},"modified":"2026-01-29T00:04:58","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T08:04:58","slug":"using-a-url-shortener-and-passing-the-seo-link-juice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/8590\/using-a-url-shortener-and-passing-the-seo-link-juice\/","title":{"rendered":"Using a URL Shortener and Passing the SEO Link Juice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/azipurl.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"654\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/azipurl-app-more-than-url-shortener-1200x654.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8592\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/azipurl-app-more-than-url-shortener-1200x654.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/azipurl-app-more-than-url-shortener-500x272.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/azipurl-app-more-than-url-shortener-768x418.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/azipurl-app-more-than-url-shortener-150x82.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/azipurl-app-more-than-url-shortener-800x436.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/azipurl-app-more-than-url-shortener.jpg 1259w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, (max-width: 1200px) 75vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">azipURL is a better version of the URL shortener websites like tinyurl.com and bitly.com \u2013 you actually get to delete links with azipURL. And you can build a webpage, password protect, and set up to get stats.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Does using a URL shortener like azipURL or TinyURL not pass on the SEO link juice of having a backlink posted somewhere?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/ask-david\">&#8220;Ask David&#8221;<\/a> answer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Actually, using a URL shortener like <strong>azipURL<\/strong>, <strong>TinyURL<\/strong>, or <strong>Bitly<\/strong> generally <strong>does<\/strong> pass on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/?s=seo\">SEO<\/a> &#8220;link juice&#8221; (also called link equity or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/?s=authority\">authority<\/a>), provided the service uses a <strong>301 permanent redirect<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here is the breakdown of how it works and what you should watch out for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>1. How Search Engines View URL Shorteners<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Most modern, reputable URL shorteners use a <strong>301 redirect<\/strong>.<sup><\/sup> Google\u2019s official stance (confirmed by various search advocates over the years) is that their crawlers treat a 301 redirect from a shortener just like any other permanent redirect.<sup><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It passes <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/?s=pagerank\">PageRank<\/a><\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It passes <strong>Anchor Text<\/strong> (if the short link itself is hyperlinked with text).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It credits the &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/?s=backlink\">backlink<\/a>&#8221; to the final destination URL.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>2. Potential &#8220;Link Juice&#8221; Leaks<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>While the shortener itself doesn&#8217;t block the link juice from flowing, you can lose a tiny bit of value in specific scenarios:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Redirect Chains:<\/strong> If your shortened link goes to a URL that then redirects <em>again<\/em> (e.g., <code>short-link<\/code> -&gt; <code>page-A<\/code> -&gt; <code>page-B<\/code>), you create a chain. Every &#8220;hop&#8221; in a redirect chain can result in a very small loss of authority and can slow down the crawl speed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Service Reliability:<\/strong> If the shortener service (like a smaller, less stable one) goes offline or shuts down, your backlink is effectively dead. That &#8220;juice&#8221; disappears instantly because the bridge is broken.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>NoFollow Attributes:<\/strong> If the site where you <em>post<\/em> the short link (like Twitter or Facebook) automatically adds a <code>rel=\"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/?s=nofollow\">nofollow<\/a>\"<\/code> tag to all outbound links, that will block the link juice regardless of whether you used a shortener or a direct link.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/3752\/does-posting-your-content-on-your-facebook-page-or-twitter-count-as-backlinks-for-your-website-when-you-link-to-it-or-should-i-say-x-instead-of-twitter\/\">Does posting your content on your Facebook page or Twitter count as backlinks for your website when you link to it? (or should I say \u201cX\u201d instead of Twitter?!)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>3. When to Use URL Shorteners (and When to Skip)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><td><strong>Scenario<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Recommended Link Type<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Why?<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Social Media (X\/Twitter)<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Shortened<\/strong><\/td><td>Saves character space and looks cleaner.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Print\/Offline Media<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Shortened<\/strong><\/td><td>Easier for people to type into a browser.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Guest Posting \/ PR<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Direct Link<\/strong><\/td><td>Looks more <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/?s=trustworthy\">trustworthy<\/a> to editors and readers; avoids the risk of the shortener service failing.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/?s=internal+linking\">Internal Linking<\/a><\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Direct Link<\/strong><\/td><td>Never use shorteners for links within your own site; it adds unnecessary server load and &#8220;hops.&#8221;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Summary:<\/strong> You aren&#8217;t &#8220;throwing away&#8221; your SEO efforts by using azipURL or TinyURL, but for high-value backlinks (like a guest post on a major site), a <strong>direct link<\/strong> is always the &#8220;gold standard&#8221; because it&#8217;s more permanent and transparent to users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Pro Tip: How to &#8220;Look Under the Hood&#8221;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">    <picture>\n                <source type=\"image\/webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/chrome-network-tab-301-status-permanent-redirect-150x49.webp 150w, https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/chrome-network-tab-301-status-permanent-redirect-500x164.webp 500w, https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/chrome-network-tab-301-status-permanent-redirect-800x263.webp 800w, https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/chrome-network-tab-301-status-permanent-redirect.webp 963w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, (max-width: 1200px) 75vw, 1200px\">\n                <img src=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/chrome-network-tab-301-status-permanent-redirect.jpg\"\n             srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/chrome-network-tab-301-status-permanent-redirect.jpg 963w, https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/chrome-network-tab-301-status-permanent-redirect-500x164.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/chrome-network-tab-301-status-permanent-redirect-768x252.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/chrome-network-tab-301-status-permanent-redirect-150x49.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/chrome-network-tab-301-status-permanent-redirect-800x263.jpg 800w\"             sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, (max-width: 1200px) 75vw, 1200px\"\n             width=\"963\"\n             height=\"316\"\n             alt=\"chrome-network-tab-301-status-permanent-redirect\"\n             loading=\"lazy\"             decoding=\"async\"\n             class=\"wp-image-8594\" >\n    <\/picture>\n    <figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">azipurl.app\/best-for-seo &#8211; The Chrome Network tab displays the wanted 301 status, permanent redirect, passing on the &#8220;link juice&#8221; from the azipURL link to the destination link.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Want to see the SEO magic in action? You don&#8217;t need fancy tools; you can use your own browser to verify that a link is passing &#8220;juice&#8221; with a 301 redirect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"1\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Open your browser:<\/strong> (Chrome, Edge, or Firefox work best).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Open the Network Tab:<\/strong> Right-click anywhere on a blank page and select <strong>Inspect<\/strong>, then click the <strong>Network<\/strong> tab at the top of the panel that appears.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Enter your short URL:<\/strong> Type your shortened link into the address bar and hit Enter.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Find the First Result:<\/strong> Look at the very top of the list in the Network panel. You&#8217;ll see the name of your link.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Check the Status:<\/strong> Under the &#8220;Status&#8221; column, you should see <strong>301<\/strong>.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>301<\/strong> = Permanent Redirect (SEO Link Juice is flowing!).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>302<\/strong> = Temporary (SEO value is restricted).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> If you see a <strong>307<\/strong> before your <strong>301<\/strong>, don&#8217;t panic! That\u2019s just your browser automatically upgrading the link to <strong>HTTPS<\/strong> for security. The <strong>301<\/strong> that follows is the one doing the heavy lifting for your SEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>Why this matters:<\/strong> If you see a <strong>200 OK<\/strong> on the first line before you reach your destination, it means the service is using a &#8220;Meta Refresh&#8221; or a &#8220;JS Redirect.&#8221; Those are the &#8220;link juice killers&#8221; you want to avoid!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/6337\/what-makes-a-simple-website-feel-trustworthy-from-real-user-experience-not-theory\/\">What Makes a Simple Website Feel Trustworthy? (From Real User Experience, Not Theory)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/5374\/internal-linking-dos-and-donts-what-to-avoid-and-what-to-focus-on\/\">Internal Linking Dos and Don\u2019ts: What to Avoid and What to Focus On<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/5371\/the-power-of-links-how-internal-and-external-links-boost-seo\/\">The Power of Links: How Internal and External Links Boost SEO<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ready to design &amp; build your own website? Learn more about\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/\">UltimateWB<\/a>! We also offer\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/web-design-packages\">web design packages<\/a>\u00a0if you would like your website designed and built for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Got a techy\/website question? Whether it\u2019s about UltimateWB or another website builder, web hosting, or other aspects of websites, just send in your question in the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/ask-david\">\u201cAsk David!\u201d form<\/a>. We will email you when the answer is posted on the UltimateWB \u201cAsk David!\u201d section.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Does using a URL shortener like azipURL or TinyURL not pass on the SEO link juice of having a backlink posted somewhere? &#8220;Ask David&#8221; answer: Actually, using a URL shortener like azipURL, TinyURL, or Bitly generally does pass on the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/8590\/using-a-url-shortener-and-passing-the-seo-link-juice\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1034,4],"tags":[6475,3589,2828,2192,1563,6476,1782,3587,2249,2835,2248,4352,10,11,1562,5058],"class_list":["post-8590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ask-david","category-search-engine-optimization-seo","tag-301-permanent-redirect","tag-anchor-text","tag-authority","tag-backlink","tag-bitly","tag-crawl-speed","tag-internal-linking","tag-internal-links","tag-link-equity","tag-link-juice","tag-nofollow","tag-pagerank","tag-search-engine-optimization","tag-seo","tag-tinyurl","tag-trustworthy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8590"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8590"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8597,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8590\/revisions\/8597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}