The Blrb Lab Notes
Stay updated with the latest in URL optimization, campaign tracking, and API development.
Do URL Shorteners Affect SEO?
Most marketers ask whether URL shorteners affect SEO right before pasting a Bitly link into their email campaign or social post. The short answer: redirects matter, but the real SEO question isn’t about rankings—it’s about whether your link analytics tell you anything useful about organic performance, audience quality, or content distribution impact. Here’s what actually […]
Are Short Links Safe to Use?
Every time you click a short link, you’re making a small bet that it leads where it claims to go. For marketers sending those links, the question flips: are you confident your audience trusts you enough to click? The answer depends on which shortener you use, how much control you have, and whether you can […]
Link Shorteners and Email Deliverability
Your email made it past Gmail’s spam filter, your open rate looks decent, but your shortened links are getting flagged before anyone clicks them. The URL shortener you chose to track clicks is quietly tanking your deliverability scores, and most marketers don’t realize it until their sender reputation is already damaged. URL shortener email deliverability […]
Link Analytics vs Google Analytics: Know the Difference
You shortened a link, posted it to X, and got 847 clicks. Google Analytics shows 214 sessions from “t.co” referrals. The math doesn’t work, your attribution is broken, and you have no idea whether those clicks came from Dallas executives or Denver college students. This is the gap between link analytics vs Google Analytics, and […]
How to Set Up a Custom Domain Shortener
A branded link using your own domain doesn’t just look more professional than “blrb.ai/x7k2j9″—it converts 39% better according to industry click-through data. But if you’re setting up a custom domain URL shortener and all you get is a prettier link, you’re missing the entire strategic opportunity. The real value isn’t the vanity URL. It’s knowing […]
Free vs Paid URL Shorteners: Is It Worth It?
Most marketers treat link shorteners like digital scissors—a quick snip, paste, and move on. But when that shortened link drives 2,000 clicks and you can only see “2,000 clicks from United States,” you’re flying blind. The difference between free and paid URL shorteners isn’t just about removing a logo or adding a custom domain. It’s […]
Geo-Targeted Short Links for Localized Marketing
You launched a campaign targeting San Francisco and Phoenix. Same creative, same offer. San Francisco drove 4x the clicks but converted at half the rate. Phoenix visitors spent more, stayed longer, and came back. Your analytics platform told you the click counts. It didn’t tell you that your SF traffic came from zip codes with […]
The 7 Best Bitly Alternatives for 2026 (Compared on Analytics, Pricing, and Features)
Bitly is the default URL shortener for most marketers, and for basic link shortening, it works fine. But the moment you need analytics beyond click counts and city-level geography, you hit a wall — and that wall costs $35 to $300 per month to climb. If you’ve been paying for Bitly and wondering whether the […]
blrb.ai vs Bitly: Feature-by-Feature Comparison for 2026
Bitly is the most recognized URL shortener in the world. It’s been the default since 2008, and for a lot of marketers, “Bitly link” is synonymous with “short link.” But recognition isn’t the same as value — and when you compare what Bitly actually gives you at each price tier against what newer platforms deliver, […]