Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Shortcut Link and Referral domain in Google Analytics
-
Hello,
One of my clients has a Facebook page for his company, and his social media manager posts some promotional and educational posts on daily basis. the social media manager uses affiliate ID's in the destination URL to track traffic and leads that come from the social media and to make it look nicer he uses shortcut links service - bitly.
Now I have a few questions about this:
-
I don't see traffic comes from bit.ly or bitly.com in Google Analytics, my question: is using 301 redirect makes Google Analytics understand that the last website which sent the traffic to my website is not the actual Referral website?
-
Is using shortcut links in the social media damages the links value (even though they are <nofollow>links - but still considered as signals from social media</nofollow>
Thanks.
-
-
You don't see traffic from bit.ly as they actually redirect the user without serving any content, therefore is just a redirection, instead, you should see the actual referrer, facebook, or whatever. However, if you are getting the hit from a facebook page, it is probably an HTTPS page, and therefore, if redirected to a non-SSL page referrer information isn't passed along. However, you could see something like facebook.com/u.php?.... You should use Analytics tracking variables to better understand from which posts are those visitors coming: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1033867?hl=en
As for your second question, just like you can interpret the redirection, so can Google or whatever search engine scrapes the page looking for signals. It won't matter if you pass them through bit.ly or services alike, the link ends up in your site (as long as there's a 300 redirection in place, which it is in bit.ly).
Hope that helps!
-
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
How to fix external links with missing anchor
Hello, My SEO audit on my site shows we have 858 external links with missing anchor, report shows Target URL and Source URL. How I can fix external links with missing anchor? None of them looks like spam, my target URL is all from our Social Media. Twitter, Google Plus, Linkedin, Pinterest, Facebook ... Here is the link to the the excel spread shit report and you can see it yourself. https://na53.salesforce.com/sfc/p/60000000IcOQ/a/f2000000UVi7/hBZ6Z1tGEFcJOTvVtfjYtYhi_HTw8fRqe9SMjuWcdOA We use ''Hootsuite'' to shrink the URL and post in to our social media, is that maybe we having this problem now? Thank you,
Social Media | | Kiakh19870 -
Is there a Facebook Ad equivalent to Google MCC?
Hi Mozzers, Really unsure if we are missing something here, but whilst trying to set-up paid ads for some of our clients on FB we have run into a significant issue. We need to be able to allow FB to debit multiple business accounts for varying ads on different pages. However every time we try to access the ads manager to set-up a new ad, FB takes us to the individuals (the person logged in to the page) account, rather than creating an ad account for that page/business individually. What are we missing? We use Google MCC for managing our PPC campaigns and so wondered if there is anything similar we can use for FB? Or any other recommendations on how to get round this without dragging each client into the office and asking them to log-in so that we can set these up? Thanks!
Social Media | | Silkstream1 -
How do I quickly check which keywords Google index YouTube videos for on first page?
I'd like to create YouTube videos since they can be a good way to rank for certain keywords. So I'd like to find a way to QUICKLY know which of the thousands of keywords I have are most likely to result in a first page result for my video. Is there a tool or technique you can recommend for quickly identifying the keywords I should target?
Social Media | | Interdisplay0 -
Links to Social Media accounts, rel=nofollow/follow and rel=me
Hi guys, I just saw this rel="me" attribute and I can't find any reputable recent (within last year) information. I never heard of this and wonder if it's any beneficial in any way. At the same time, should I use nofollow or follow on links from website to social accounts? I've heard different opinions but, again, no recent relevant and trustworthy information. Please, kick me into right direction. However, when kicking, please give me some proof, rather than thoughts 🙂 Thanks!
Social Media | | DmitriiK0 -
How to recover Google+ business page if it gets deleted by mistake ?
Hi, i have a client who has by mistakenly deleted its G+ business page which is having good expousre on Google+. he got worried how to recover it . even i don't know how to do it. any help or discussion for the solution would be appreciated Thanks,
Social Media | | ShaunPhilips0 -
How can I track on my facebook page shared links without using short url redirect service?
Hi, I wondering how can I track and analyze on all my shared links in my facebook business page without using short url redirect service like: “Tiny” url or “bitly”? Thanks in advance.
Social Media | | JonsonSwartz0 -
Should my small business website link to Yelp?
I'm kind of on the fence about this one. Should I include a social media icon for Yelp on my website? We have great reviews, but so do most of my competitors. I'd like to share my reviews, but I also do not want to send traffic away from my website to another website (Yelp) that lists my competitors. What do you think?
Social Media | | pharcydeabc0 -
How effective is RSS feeds submission, links from Blog Directories?
I am wondering how effective rss feed submission (to RSS aggregators) is in terms of getting traffic and backlinks? Also, how about getting listed in blog directories? Do these tactics work anymore post Panda update ? Thanks, Supriya.
Social Media | | Amjath0