Misconceptions on Using URL Redirect

It is obvious, but it deserves reiteration: the use of URL redirect is common place today. You can easily the use of web forwarding or URL redirection in sites such as Twitter and Facebook, where members use the services websites that shortens websites to post web addresses. Affiliate marketers use URL redirect for various reasons, mainly to keep visitors interested and to prevent them from leaving. Webmasters use URL redirect as a means to improve a site’s chances of being found and visited. For whatever reason, URL redirect is certainly one of the top services available online. Time magazine even cited one of the URL “shortener” websites as one of the top websites in 2008-although the citation, it is said, is not so much about that particular site but the idea of what it can do and the service the site and other similar service providers offer and give.

But even with this, people are still wary of the use of URL redirect. This is especially true for people who do not understand the inner workings of the Internet. Also, this wariness exists because of a number of misconceptions regarding URL redirect and the service. But most of these are, of course, merely false notions. Looking at it closely, it can be said that URl redirect is a useful and practical technique to employ.

One of the misconceptions regarding URL redirect is that the use of it is deception. They say a webmaster is deceiving people when it cloaks a URL to look like something else. Of course, it cannot be denied that a number of scrupulous individuals do use URL redirect to deceive people. But their number is negligible; as with most things, there are those who find ways to deceive people for their own means. The use of URL redirect isn’t so much a deception; rather, it is just a matter of presenting something at a better light. With URL redirect, web addresses are shorter and more appealing. Cloaker helps webmasters and affiliate marketers as well as the Internet users.

Another misconception claims redirecting a site is dangerous because the service provider can easily change the user site. So while you, for instance, promote the link of the URL redirect thinking it would lead to your site, the service provider can easily change the site where the visitors are forwarded to. While this may be a valid concern, the cases wherein this has happened are very small at its worst. And there is a remedy here, of course: get the service of trustworthy URL redirect providers.

Lastly, there have been talks that certain sites have banned the posting of URL redirect. This is true-but only up to a certain extent. These sites have banned the posting of addresses come from providers such as TinyURL. The aliases from TinyURL are indeed tiny, so to speak, but they obscure the site’s original URL and content. However, URL redirect from providers that allow users to customize the address are not banned, since they are not obscure URLs.