Have you ever look at the number of clicks you got on a post, then looked for the corresponding web traffic, only to find that it is was not there?

It isn’t uncommon to shorten a URL with one of the common URL shorteners, click post, then instantly see 15, 35, 50 clicks.  But, those hits don’t not show up in Google Analytics – so where did that traffic go?  Why is there a difference between clicks as shown by the URL shortener service vs. what shows up in Google Analytics?

To understand this phenomenon better, we did what we normally do – build tools that get answers.  So, in our search for the truth, we created 2 methods of tracking  links using Google Analytics as a data engine. Here are the two methods we developed.

1. Track Traffic from URL shorteners using the Google Analytics API.
2. Create the Unilyzer URL Shortener Plus.

The first method takes a high level approach.  It captures and reports traffic metrics from 19 different URL shorteners.  This reporting is available to all Unilyzer customers.  Here is the list of URL shorteners tracked by Unilyzer as of 2-1-2011:

1. Unly.it
2. su.pr
3. vltb.com
4. twelio.com
5. bit.ly
6. Is.gd
7. ow.ly
8. twurl.nl
9. tr.im
10. cli.gs
11. ping.fm
12. blippr.com
13. zi.ma
14. snipurl.com
15. poprl.com
16. ad.vu
17. budurl.com
18. goo.gl
19. dlvr.it

And, Figure 1. below is and example of how that report looks.



Figure 1.  Unilyzer Link Tracking Report – shows aggregated Google Analytics traffic metrics from each shortener.

The second method we developed is FREE, and a available to everyone.  It is the Unilyzer URL Shortner Plus, and here are it’s unique capabilities:

• Shortens Long URL’s
• Provides shortened URL’s with a unique identifier “key”.
• Each “key” is track able within Google Analytics.

These three features enable the user to post links, then get analytics for each link via Google Analytics.

Other features of  Unilyzer Shortener Plus :

1. Allows Post Scheduling
2. Allows Multiple Twitter Account Usage
3. Shorten Only
4. Shorten and Post to Twitter
5. Retweet Messages from your list of previous tweets.

Below, Figure 2. shows a screen shot of the links sent.  The tracking ‘keys’ are in the left column.  Figure 3, shows how these keys are picked up in Google Analytics.



Figure 2.  Articles Posted and Links Shortened using Unilyzer Shortener Plus.

Figure 3.  Unilyzer URL Shortener Plus ‘keys” tracked by Google Analytics give more insight about article performance.

UNILYZER – SIGN UP NOW