The death of generic short URLs: why bit.ly/abc123 hurts your brand

Here's what happens when someone sees a link in their feed, inbox, or message:

1. They see the link (50ms)
2. They evaluate trust (100ms)
3. They decide to click or scroll past (50ms)

Total decision time: 200 milliseconds.

In that 200ms, a generic short URL like bit.ly/x7k2m9 communicates nothing. It could be spam. It could be a phishing attempt. It could be legitimate. The user has no way to know.

A branded link like go.company.com/spring-launch communicates:

• Who is sharing it (the company)
• What it's about (spring launch)
• Trust (it's on their domain)

The Data

Our research across 2.5k clicks shows branded links outperform generic ones by 34-47% depending on the channel. But the impact goes beyond CTR:

• Email deliverability: Generic short URL domains are more likely to trigger spam filters
• Social media reach: Platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook throttle posts with known short URL domains
• Brand recall: Users remember your domain, not bit.ly

The Fix

Setting up branded links with getowl takes 2 minutes:

1. Add your custom domain in getowl settings
2. Point a CNAME to our CloudFront distribution
3. Wait for automatic SSL provisioning (~2 minutes)
4. All new links use your branded domain

The cost? $0 extra. Custom domains are included on every getowl plan — even Free.

Stop Using Generic Short URLs

Every bit.ly/random link you share is a missed opportunity to build trust, reinforce your brand, and improve your click-through rates. In 2026, there's no reason to use generic short URLs.