Management: What IT and security professionals should know about it
Links are essential to digital experiences. They allow content to be shared between companies and their users, customers, and employees. Link management platforms are a key strategy for IT and security professionals to manage links securely and to increase security.
This article will share with you 11 questions you should ask about the level of risk associated with your link, especially if you do not use a platform for enterprise-grade management. These questions will also help you to communicate the importance of link-management with internal stakeholders, such as marketing, sales and customer service leaders.
Link Management: 11 essential questions that IT and security professionals should ask
This list was compiled based on feedback from real people who have experienced problems with their links.
1. Can our organization’s social media links suddenly disappear?
Unfortunately, if teams within your organization share generic links generated by popular URL shortening services on major social media platforms where your organization is present, this can lead to unnecessary risks. As this Reddit example shows, the links to your organization could disappear overnight from your posts.
In the past, social media platforms regularly “swept” links from accounts and posts, removing a large number of generic links, without warning. This has created major challenges for businesses and marketers using these platforms.
Why is this happening? Social media platforms such as Facebook (Meta), Twitter(X) and LinkedIn may ban you for posting generic links at any time.
Source: Quora question – Quora answer
You could still face the risk that a social media platform will remove your links that are associated with your domain if you use generic short links instead of branded links. The risk is lower if you use generic short links.
2. Can our organization suddenly make it impossible for a large population to access its links?
As the political turmoil of Egypt in 2019 taught us, not only can social media platforms “turn off”, but also a government. This is particularly true for links that are generated by social media tools or generic link shorteners.
Source: NetBlocks
In this case, you may have a lower risk of exposure if you use branded links. It’s still possible but less likely for a government to block access to branded links that are associated with domains you own and control.
3. Can our links stop our SMS messages being delivered?
You should be aware of what happens if you use certain links and not others if your company uses SMS for any communications. AT&T, T-Mobile and other major carriers prevent recipients from receiving generic shortlinks due to their association with Spam or phishing.
Source: AT&T
Many SMS providers, including SalesForce, ActiveCampaign, and SalesForce, do not allow the use of generic link shortening services.
Source: ActiveCampaign
Source: Salesforce
4. Can not having complete control over the domain associated to our links cause risks for our organization?
Avoid working with a solution that recommends using a “complementary” domain. This can have a lot of risks, as opposed to working with an integrated platform that lets you connect domains that are already associated with your company and that you control.
It’s important to know that, if you are asked to select a “complementary” domain exclusively associated with a tool for link shortening, you may be putting yourself at risk by giving control to this company. It also means your organization will not be able to use the domain for any other services or purposes, as long you want to use it to link shorten. Some important guidelines:
- Use “complementary” domains only if you are sure that your domain is not being blacklisted. This is because they will be associated with the owner of the domain, and not with your company. By registering a domain with a company, you are ceding your control to them.
- Choose a platform for link management that supports Dynamic Domain Alias. You can use your brand domain, which may be used elsewhere by your organization.
- Do not forget to check that your domains are transferable. You should always ensure that your domains can be transferred.
Notespan size=”font-weight 400 ;”>: You can connect or purchase new domains through Rebrandly. Rebrandly allows you to transfer any domain purchased on the platform.
You’ll miss an opportunity to use your trusted domains to improve trust and security. Use a link shortening service that allows you to use the domain wherever you want and transfer it whenever you like. If you use a domain not under your control, then your organization is taking unnecessary risks when it comes to your links.
5. Can links sent by our organization unintentionally predispose customers to future phishing?
IT and security professionals must know that it is important to create repeatability in domain names and links, so your customers don’t accidentally click on an unreliable link. It is especially important in highly regulated sectors such as banking or health.
It is important that all internal stakeholders in your organization refrain from using generic link-shortening tools.
6. Can our links cause emails from our organization to be blocked or marked as spam?
In order to protect users, email administrators block generic links that are sent in emails. This is especially true for domains commonly associated with link-shortening services. You must ensure that your users do not create accounts with generic link shortening services and only share links that are associated with domains that are under your control.
Generic short links can reduce click-through rates for your organization and hurt email deliverability in general. When people don’t recognize the source of a link, they are less likely to click it. Users are less likely to click on links if they cannot confirm where the link leads them. Click-through rates are tracked by many platforms that communicate with customers. These include email marketing tools and CRM software.
As the Microsoft example below shows, some email marketing platforms specifically block generic link providers because they are known for being used by spammers.
Source: Microsoft
By not using a trusted and secure link management system and by not having your marketing team share branded rather than generic links, you may not only be reducing your revenue potential but also affecting the overall deliverability signal that third-party platforms constantly analyze in order to protect their software against misuse.
7. Can third parties access the data that comes from our organization’s links?
You may also be inadvertently giving away information when you use a generic URL-shortening service. They may be collecting information about your URL shortening, clicks, and other data.
Click statistics are one example. Some URL shorteners gather data about the number of users who click on your URLs, their geographic location, and what websites sent them there. These statistics can often be made public, or by the creator of the link. You’ll want your link statistics to be private, and only accessible to those individuals within your organization who have been authorized to view them.
8. Can our organization be exploited for its links?
You can hide the destination URL by using a generic URL shorter. This makes it difficult for the user to understand where the link is going. This lack of transparency is dangerous to your business because malicious users can exploit it.
When redirecting users to another link, they must trust that their next experience will lead them to a trusted destination. If you provide branded links through a link management platform with a domain that users are familiar with, they will have greater confidence in the link.
9. Can our links suddenly expire?
Most generic URL shortening service will expire your links automatically after a period of time. Your online content can be affected if the shortened links stop working. You can avoid this by using a professional solution for link management, which gives you full control of link expiration, as well as other security features.
10. Can our links hurt our overall SEO?
SEO experts have been worried for years that generic short links may have an effect on SEO. Google and other search engines already consider the links that you use, as well as their trustworthiness. Spam and phishing are also on the rise. Your website’s reputation could suffer if you use generic URL shorteners used by spammers or malicious actors. SEO is getting more competitive and each optimization is more important than ever.
Source: Moz
You can use your primary domain to link to social media posts or marketing materials of your organization, for example. Consider the impact of your links on your users’ experience and on your analytics and click-through rate. This can affect your SEO.
Links can be used in many ways to help an organization, including to establish trust among users, customers and employees. Avoid generic URL shortening and ensure that your link management tool supports you as a security or IT professional to reduce risks and build scalable solutions for your organization.
11. Does the organization that provides our links comply with applicable security and privacy frameworks?
You can see that if you use branded links in your business, it is important to ensure the provider takes the appropriate security and privacy steps to protect both your links and data. It’s especially important if your business operates in industries that are highly regulated, such as financial services and healthcare. You can ask your link management service provider to confirm that they are compliant with industry standards for privacy, legal and security (e.g. GDPR, HIPAA ).
