Firewall Blocks Shortened URL, Reduces SEO Performance

Have you ever wondered why some of the websites you visit cannot be opened on your desktop computer in the office? Do not ponder further, the reason is that most companies now have firewall software installed on their network servers to protect infiltration by spams, malwares pirates and adult contents from opening and as well cause damage.

Often, when posts are shared using some of the social media channels such as Google+, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and others, the lengthy URL of your article is automatically shortened, thereby making it susceptible to a possible blockage by a firewall, depending also on the defined security parameters.

What is a Firewall?

Cisco, which is one of the world leading firewall software publishing company, define firewall as a network security device that monitors incoming and outgoing network traffic and decides whether to allow or block specific traffic based on a defined set of security rules. Most firewall software identifies these shortened URLs as spams or malwares, hence disabling them to prevent the websites from opening.



Reasons for Shortening Websites URLs

It is a common phenomenon to find articles with shortened URLs on social media, especially among digital marketers and content curators. There are many reasons why people use shorten links, and the most popular ones are:

1.   Analytics

Digital marketers rely heavy on data about the performance of their campaigns, gathered from various social media channels that they have used for their promotions. It is essential that these campaigns are tracked to determine their performance rate, hence the relevance of site analytics.

2.   Website Concealment

Another of the reasons for creating a shortened URL is for the concealment of websites to prevent unsuspecting users from easy identification of the source and true nature of the content of the site. In reality, by concealing a website with shortened URLs, those who ordinarily, would have been interested often avoid contents with shortened links, because they create an element of suspicion.

3.   Character Limitation

Some social media apps such as Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn, no longer counts full URLs differently as it does the shortened ones; both long and short URLs now takes no more than 23 characters, hence eliminating the need to continue to use shortened URLs as a mean to save character space, which is often limited to 140 characters.

4.   Raises Integrity Issues

Since it has become a common occurrence to find sites promoting adult content, fake news and malwares that are disguised under shortened URLs, of which Internet users have also become increasing aware and wary clicking shortened URLs. Displaying the full URL on a post connotes transparency and a high level of trustworthiness, which provide users the opportunity to make a fair and honest choice of whether or not to click on the link.

The Negative Effect of Shortened URLs

The impact of shortened URL’s on the performance of your digital marketing campaign is quite enormous, particularly when weighed against the premise of the large number of working class Internet users that are active during the business hours of 9am to 5pm, which makes over 70% of Internet traffic that occur during this period.

It is better imaged the number of shortened URLs websites that firewalls of the various office network computers would block from opening in every giving day. Weighing the advantages of firewalls against the disadvantages clearly shows that it is only reasonable to avoid using shortened URLs during your digital marketing campaigns, to prevent a situation whereby you record a dismal ROI.