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Nobody likes long URLs. Yet, we see more of them daily as we surf the net, primarily generated by query based websites. For example, if one were to look for “.NET Obfuscator” on Microsoft’s Developer Network (MSDN), the resulting search query would look like this Long Link, which makes it difficult for someone who want to keep monitoring for results of a particular query.

Besides search results, even website content which is relatively fixed or static is often referred to using long URLs. For example, the article on renaming a layer in Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0 is located at: Long Link.

These long URLs exist due to various technical reasons and revolve around the structural content of a particular website. Nonetheless, that does not change the fact that these long URLs make it extremely difficult for users to share information and are subject to mistyping or misquoting. In view of this, several different companies have begun offering URL shortening services so that users can use a shorter URL to represent a longer one.

Typically, for a URL shortening service to be popular, it has to be hosted using a short domain name, otherwise it would be counter-productive. For example, http://www.xil.in is an Indian based domain name which offers URL shortening services. Technically, such services require users to input a long URL and they offer a shorter URL based on their domain name which automatically redirects traffic to the original URL. This is called a 301 redirect, and maintains search engine linking.

Many people also use URL shortening services to mask their affiliate links. For example, if a webmaster is an affiliate for Amazon and is promoting a Disney Monopoly game through his website with the following URL Long Link , it not only looks long and windy, it can also put some web users off by creating the impression that the webmaster is more interested in selling than reviewing or sharing information. A clever trick would be to mask the entire lengthy URL with a link such as http://xil.net/disneymonopoly which is certainly more appealing.

However, there are also disadvantages of shortening URLs with such services, with lack of transparency cited as the biggest complaint. This happens when a shortened URL does not provide any indication of the original site, and can be used by malicious people on the Internet to redirect unsuspecting web users to potentially harmful or objectionable websites.

Given the relative advantages, it is clear that URL shortening services are indeed a useful tool and users have an entire range of domain names to choose from given the huge number of service providers on the Internet.

Go To: - http://www.xil.in

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