SEO and the abbreviated URL

Question

Is an abbreviated URL link also applied SEO?

If I link a URL which is abbreviated to twitter(by using bit.ly),
is it helped to my origin page's SEO?

Answer 1

If the short-URL redirects to your real URL and page using a Permanent redirection, then the redirection should be transparent -- what will matter to the search engine is the final page ; i.e. your page and its real URL.

With bit.ly, when a user clicks on a links, he is redirected to the real URL with a 301 HTTP Status code -- which is a permanent redirection.
So, your final URL should be the one seen by the search engines.

Still note that using URL-shortening services :

• Adds at least one redirection, which means pages will load a bit slower (not good for your users)
• Mean a second possible point of failure : if the service you're using closes, or is overloaded, users won't be able to access your website via those links... Even if your site/server is perfectly fine !

So, even if URL-shortening services are useful in some situations (like twitter, I suppose), I would recommend that you don't use them for everything : only use them when needed !

Answer 2

Links that are shared on Twitter don't contribute at all to search engine rankings because they use rel="nofollow" on every link. This prevents search engine spiders from following the link to its destination.

When using shortened links in other places, the link will usually be given the same weight as a full url, but only if the shortening service uses a 301 redirect. There won't be any additional weight given to the fact that it is a short URL, so I would typically stay away from them.