Is there an advantage to building my own tinyURL-like function/service over using third party resources?

Question

I've seen the many different ways I can build a function/service to generate short URLs which I can then control via my own domain.

This sounds like a great idea; however, as I look at the advantages such as being able to control these URLs long term, adjusting the end location if needed have more tracking over where they wind up, etc.

I'm wondering if there is already a service out there that provides for this level of control without needing to build/host/support the solution myself?

The exact features desired are as follows:

• Control of where the URL points to AFTER it's generated (the underlying URL needs to change due to legal/regulatory issues)
• More robust tracking of where the URL is used as opposed to just doing a Google Search for the tiny URL

Answer 1

They may not necessarily be optimised for shortness, typically they look like http://purl.org/net/kin , but PURLs might be what you want

PURLs (Persistent Uniform Resource Locators) are Web addresses that act as permanent identifiers in the face of a dynamic and changing Web infrastructure. Instead of resolving directly to Web resources, PURLs provide a level of indirection that allows the underlying Web addresses of resources to change over time without negatively affecting systems that depend on them. This capability provides continuity of references to network resources that may migrate from machine to machine for business, social or technical reasons.

purl.org

You have complete control over where they point if you use the centralised server; you can also download their software to run your own.

Answer 2

The advantage would be that you own the links and are not dependent on a service that may go out of business. Also, if the shortened URL still has your domain it would have SEO advantages for page rank. Another thing is that it would reduce friction from clicking the link by your users. When you use another domain for shortening you are dependent on the trust the user has with that organization as well.