Few days ago Google finally gave Google URL Shortener its own URL: http://goo.gl. The site works similar to any of the shorteners out there, but I found a cool feature that allows users to track referrals to their sites from off line channels. It is the integration of QR codes.
The way it works is like this, let’s say you have a long URL you want to make short: http://syndikomm.com/blog/2010/10/the-3-most-important-things-i-have-learned-from-%E2%80%9Cthe-social-network%E2%80%9D-movie/ then you go to http://goo.gl and enter your url on the URL Shortener field, automatically Google gives you a shorter URL address that people can use to go to the same content: goo.gl/sfoF, people do this for many reasons but two of the most important ones are:
- They can send long URL’s through twetter or othermini blogging sites where characters are limited to a very small number (140)
- They can track different channels individually and identify how people is reaching their blog, article or news. These shortener services give you reports of visitors to your site from the short URL.
The cool feature now is that Google integrates also QR Codes, so you can actually print the code on any publication or advertising piece and people with smart phones and the proper app (ie: QR reader) can get the page right into their phones without typing a single character… awesome!!
Thanks Google! really like these guys…