Shortening and Unshortening Links in Publlish

Learn how link shortening works in Publlish, how to shorten and unshorten URLs in your posts, and how shortened links affect tracking and analytics across your social channels.

Bhanu Prasad

— 2 min read
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Long URLs in social media posts look cluttered, eat into character limits, and are impossible to remember. Publlish can automatically shorten links in your posts — and you can also unshorten them back to the original URL if needed. This guide explains how link shortening works and when to use it.

When you paste a URL into the Publlish composer, Publlish can automatically shorten it using a link shortening service. The shortened link redirects to the original URL when clicked — so the destination is the same, the link just looks cleaner.

Shortened links typically look like: publlish.co/abc123 or a similar shortened format.

  1. In the composer, paste your URL into the caption field
  2. Publlish will detect the URL and show a Shorten option
  3. Click Shorten and the URL will be replaced with the shortened version
  4. The shortened link is what will appear in your published post

If you've shortened a link and want to revert to the original URL:

  1. Click on the shortened link in the composer
  2. Select Unshorten from the options
  3. The original full URL will be restored

Shorten links when:

  • Posting on X (Twitter) — character count matters; shortened links save space (note: X wraps all links in its own t.co shortener regardless)
  • The original URL is very long and cluttered-looking
  • You want to track click performance through Publlish's link analytics
  • You're using a UTM-tagged URL that's very long

Don't shorten links when:

  • The original domain adds trust (e.g. a link to a well-known brand's website — seeing the full domain reassures users it's legitimate)
  • You're posting on platforms where link previews are more important than the URL text (Facebook, LinkedIn)
  • You're using a custom branded short domain that's already clean

Shortened links in Publlish can be tracked for click data — meaning you can see how many people clicked a link in a specific post. This data appears in your Publlish analytics.

For more sophisticated link tracking (campaign attribution, conversion tracking), combine Publlish link shortening with UTM parameters. Add UTM parameters to the original URL before pasting it into Publlish, then shorten the UTM-tagged URL.

Example: https://yoursite.com/product?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=launch → shortened to publlish.co/xyz789

X (Twitter): X wraps every link in its own t.co shortener automatically, regardless of whether you've also shortened it in Publlish. All links count as 23 characters on X.

Instagram: Instagram doesn't make links in captions clickable (except in bio). If you're driving traffic from Instagram, the link in caption approach is low-value — "link in bio" is the standard approach.

LinkedIn and Facebook: Full URLs display as link previews with title, description, and image. The URL shortening doesn't affect the preview appearance — the preview is generated from the destination URL, not the shortened link.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Publlish have its own link shortener? Yes — Publlish includes link shortening functionality built into the composer. Shortened links redirect to the original destination URL.

Do shortened links affect SEO? Shortened links don't negatively affect SEO for your website — they're just redirects. The destination URL receives the traffic as normal.

Can I use my own branded short domain for links in Publlish? Custom branded short domains may be available depending on your plan. Contact Publlish support for information on this feature.

Why does my shortened link show the full URL on LinkedIn? LinkedIn generates link previews based on the destination URL, not the short link. The preview will show metadata from your actual website regardless of link shortening.

Can I see how many clicks a shortened link got? Yes — click data for shortened links is available in your Publlish analytics for that post.

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