What are Vanity URLs, and How Do You Create One?

Vanity URLs replace lengthy, generic URLs on social media and websites with brand-specific ones. Their ease of remembering and spreading URLs makes them popular in marketing. Instead of www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=123456789, try www.facebook.com/yourbusinessname.

Keywords in vanity URLs boost traffic and search engine rankings. Search engines like Google significantly weigh URL keywords when judging website validity and relevancy. This article shows you how to turn a URL into a Vanity URL and how a vanity URL can improve your online exposure and organic traffic.

What is a Vanity URL?

Custom, memorable vanity URLs enhance user experience and branding. Unlike large, complicated URLs, vanity URLs are short, descriptive, and simple to remember. Their keywords frequently match related content. This enhances their significance and appearance.

For instance, “www.example.com/product?id=12345” may become “www.example.com/best-product.” This custom URL looks nicer and makes the link easier to remember. It also boosts the brand’s credibility and user-friendliness.

Short, relevant, and straightforward vanity URLs work. Pages should clearly state their purpose or substance. For a sales or promotion website, “www.brand.com/sale” is a simple and appealing vanity URL. “www.brand.com/contact” for the contact information page gives users an easy way to find the information they need. 

Differences Between A Generic Link & Vanity URL

Generic URLs might be your domain, homepage, or other significant website URLs. Your brand will be promoted directly with a website URL. Just like wpdeveloper.net is a generic URL for WPDeveloper, a brand.

Personalized workday vanity URLs send users to your product site’s genuine domain. You must select a term related to your company or campaign to make your custom URL noteworthy.

Your blog’s original URL, ‘https://wpdeveloper.net/blogs,’ can be transformed into a vanity URL to measure performance. And this URL is hard to remember.

Instead, give this link a vanity URL so users can find it simply. The vanity URL may be wpd.blogs, which is readily remembered or redirects them to your product page. Or you may completely personalize the URL for your audience. 

What are the Benefits of Using Vanity URLs?

Vanity URLs can do more than just shorten and simplify brand URLs. They provide several advantages that might boost your online visibility and marketing. Here are several vanity URL benefits that can help you:

Increased Brand Awareness

Adding your business name or a relevant keyword to one vanity URL creates a consistent online presence. Your audience will remember your brand better with this regularity. Users will trust and recognize your brand more when they see your personalized vanity URL.

Increased Trust

By attaching your brand name to your content, you show followers that your link won’t lead them to spam or phishing websites but to meaningful, brand-consistent information. This improved trust could raise CTR by 39% compared to generic short URLs or lengthy unbranded links.

Better Link Management Control

Businesses have complete control over link management with vanity URLs. They improve URL performance monitoring. Businesses may easily update, reroute, or adjust vanity URLs to match marketing campaigns or goals. This adaptability keeps your URLs relevant and effective.

Improved SEO

Bringing organic traffic to your website depends on the SEO you’ve done on the content. Keyword-optimized vanity URLs help SEs like Google index your content. Your vanity URL is more likely to show in search results for those terms, improving your SEO rating.

Integrated Link Retargeting and UTM Tools

Even if your links connect to third-party websites, you can still add clickers to your retargeting lists. Your top funnel traffic might rise 500%. UTM parameters may be added to URLs before shortening. This makes vanity URL traffic and conversions simpler to monitor.

Easy to Rememberable and Pronounceable

Vanity URLs use understandable language. You can remember and pronounce your links better. Unlike a generic link that people normally skim, your link may be read, giving your message another opportunity.

How to Create a Vanity URL?

Vanity URLs are short, memorable URLs that reflect your personal or corporate brand. Let’s see how to turn a URL into a vanity URL:

Step 1: Choose a Domain Name

Your vanity URL domain name should reflect your brand or company. It should be brief, memorable, and relevant to your audience. You can buy or use a domain name that is already taken.

Step 2: Sign up for a URL-Shortening Tool

Replug, Rebrandly, and TinyURL offer vanity URL creation. Create an account and choose a plan to use these services. Most URL shorteners provide free and premium plans with basic and advanced features.

Step 3: Create a Personalized URL

After signing up for a URL shortener, you may create domain-named links. Simply input the lengthy URL you wish to shorten and add your domain name. Take “mybusiness.com” as an example and construct a custom link like “mybusiness.com/shortlink.”

Step 4: Test the URL

To be sure the custom link works, try it first. Check that the link redirects when clicked. Use a link checker to verify the link’s validity and functionality.

Step 5: Share the URL

After testing, share the personalized link with your audience. Your website, social media, email marketing campaigns, and other internet channels may utilize the link. A vanity URL makes URLs easier to remember and distribute, which may increase website traffic.

Vanity URL Examples

As companies go online, a unique and short URL can help differentiate them. Vanity URLs let users visit their website quickly and easily. These are some interesting examples of vanity URLs that people and businesses have used.

Airbnb

Airbnb’s vanity URL Airbnb.com shows the benefits of a short, memorable URL for a company. This firm uses its brand name as the URL to create a simple and distinctive web address for consumers to share.

Airbnb’s profitability increases as prospective customers find it easier to use their website and book rooms. The booking vanity URL is airbnb.com/contact, which is easy to remember.

Airbnb provides Twitter (twitter.com/airbnb), Facebook (facebook.com/airbnb), and Instagram (instagram.com/airbnb) vanity URLs in addition to its main website. This homogeneity across platforms helps customers find and connect with the brand faster. These URLs use their brand name as the social media identification and match their website address.

Dropbox

Dropbox uses smart vanity social media URLs like its short website address and short URL. Facebook.com/dropbox and twitter.com/dropbox are its social media accounts. This uniformity across channels boosts brand identification and makes the organization easy to identify and contact.

Dropbox’s backup service vanity domain, dropbox.com/backup, is easy to remember and boosts the company’s online presence. This company has built a strong brand that resonates with its target audience by being plain and consistent online.

Slack

The messaging service’s URL, “slack.com,” is distinctive and easy to remember. Twitter is twitter.com/SlackHQ, and Facebook is facebook.com/SlackHQ, which matches its website.

Slack.com/get-started, its messaging service vanity URL, is simple and memorable, increasing its online visibility. Because of this consistency across platforms, customers can instantly recognize and connect with the organization, strengthening its brand.

Best Practices for Vanity URLs

•       Keep it Short and Memorable: Select a short, memorable vanity URL that matches your brand. Shorter URLs are shareable and easier to remember.
•       Platform Consistency: Match vanity URLs across different channels and platforms for consistency. This guarantees brand continuity and helps audiences navigate platforms.
•       Avoid Trademark Infringement: Don’t violate trademarks while generating vanity URLs. Verify that your URL does not infringe trademarks or copyrights.
•       Establish Permanent Redirects: Implement HTTP 301 redirects to allow people who saved or shared the previous vanity URL to access your content after changing it or restructuring your website.

Vanity URLs: Conclusion

You can increase online visibility, user experience, and SEO using vanity URLs. Easy-to-remember web addresses. Increase brand presence and information accessibility. Keywords boost SEO and organic traffic.

Regular monitoring keeps them successful and on track with marketing goals. Avoiding complicated URLs and not testing are frequent errors. You can use their benefits and provide a more professional online experience by doing so.