What is a Vanity URL?

A vanity link is an easily pronounced, descriptive URL that’s used to redirect URLs. A vanity URL can be defined as a URL that has been shortened. A vanity URL is also known as a brand link or customized short URL.

These URLs are a combination of a domain that contains the name of your brand or keyword relevant to your business. These URLs are suitable for a variety of marketing campaigns, including social media, email, print publications and offline marketing.

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Use Vanity URLs with Care

They help to build trust and achieve your marketing goals. To achieve this, you should use them correctly.

Here are 3 guidelines you should follow when using a Vanity URL, or a branded hyperlink:

Use Only When Necessary : You don’t need to use a vanity link for every shared link. A vanity URL’s purpose is to shorten a link and make it associated with your brand. There is no need for a new link if the existing one already serves this purpose. If you use a link shortener to manage links or for analytics, it’s worth spending a few extra seconds editing the link.
Be clear. Display your brand clearly and use complete words to describe the content. To trust your link, people need to know where it will take them. Use words that describe the content of the website in the keyword following the slashtag. Use the name of the publication if you are linking to another website. Keep it as simple, honest and concise as you can.
Integrate your vanity URL into your SEO strategy. Make sure that the Vanity URL complements your marketing and SEO strategies.

Examples of Vanity URLs

Influencers and brands of all sizes have seen the benefits of vanity URLs. These are a few examples.

On Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

The Benefits of Using Vanity Urls

Brand Awareness Increased– It’s your link. Why would you use another company’s name when you can promote your own? Your brand will be more visible if you use branded links, even if you share other people’s content.

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This will increase trust, as it shows that you care about your brand and that you want to share relevant content. This trust boost can increase CTR (Click-Through Rate) up to 39% compared to generic URLs and long, unbranded links.
Full Control over Link management Using your brand domain gives you full control over your shortlinks. You can delete, redirect or edit their description.
Improved Search Engine Optimization –By adding a keyword to the URL slugs of your links, SEO will be at an advantage. Your name will also be associated with the keyword.
Integrated Retargeting, and UTM ToolsYou are able to add people to your retargeting list who click your links even if they lead to a third party website. It can increase traffic to your top funnel by 500%. While creating branded shortlinks, you can also add UTM parameters.
Pronounceable and Memorable– Vanity URLs can be read and understood by people. Your links will be more memorable and pronounceable. Your link is easier to read than a generic one that people scan. This gives your message a second chance.

Read our blog on branded links vs short links for a deeper look into the benefits of vanity domains or watch the video below.

Use vanity URLs to improve SEO

Although I have already mentioned it in the benefits section of this article, I want to focus on the advantages that customizing your url has for SEO. Your vanity URL is important because the URL is one of the most crucial parts of SEO.

301 – A permanent URL redirect from one location to another is called a 301 redirect . Search engines and bots can interpret this. You still retain the “link juice”, but now you have a link that is shorter and more shareable.
You keyword is in the URL. You choose relevant keywords for your website. We could, for example, use vanity URLs or branded links to link to our website.
Keyword AssociationBots will read your keyword and brand name as an association. Your brand name will be considered relevant for your keyword.
Cleverly TLDing You can use TLDs associated with your brand. You could, for example, use “.pizza .

If you use “Dublin.Pizza/best”, then when someone searches for the best pizza in Dublin, they will see the URL that your vanity URL points to.

How do I create a vanity URL?

It is easy to create a vanity URL.

Three sections make up a vanity URL. You can use your short domain and TLD as well as the URL slug.

Choose a domain name

Sign in or register at Rebrandly. You must first choose a domain.

To keep your brand consistent, your domain name should reflect your entire business. This will allow people to recognize the link and identify it as yours.

Rebrandly is our brand name. Samowens is my domain name. It is short, but relevant to my brand. Most people find this part the most difficult. You might find this difficult. Check out the blog post.

Step 2. Select a TLD

Select a TLD that is relevant, such as.link..click..lol..news..blog. There are nearly 500 options to choose from. Prices start at $2.

This is also a simple process. It all depends on your speed and determination to create an account. Different ones are assigned to the different types of content that we share. I can think of:

Rebrandly.news-We use it for Rebrandly media mentions and news.
Rebrandly.rocks– We use it for Rebrandly to share links to user reviews
Rebrandly.live – We share this to Facebook Lives and webinars.
Rebrandly.blog– We use it to share our blog articles
Rebrandly.link– We use it to share curated material
Rebrandly.xyz– We use it for sharing funny and general content.

Check to see if you can get the domain name you want and what it will cost.

Step 3 – URL Slug (Keyword)

You can now create vanity URLs once you have selected your TLD and branded domain. The domains that you register are saved in your account, so you can create vanity URLs. This process can be made even quicker by using our Chrome extension, iOS application and android app.

Interesting fact about branded hyperlinks

David Beckham and Hugh Jackman were among the first celebrities to adopt link branding.