{
    "version" : "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1",
    "content" : "news",
    "type" : "single",
    "title" : "Keeping Vanity URLs in Check: A Few Criteria |Digital.gov",
    "description": "Keeping Vanity URLs in Check: A Few Criteria",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/11/28/keeping-vanity-urls-in-check-a-few-criteria/index.json","item" : [
    {"title" :"Keeping Vanity URLs in Check: A Few Criteria","summary" : "Shortcuts, Vanity or Marketing URLs, are all names for the requests Web managers get to shorten Web addresses. The shortened links make it easy to share long links as well as track clicks on those links. On a recent discussion thread on the Web Managers","date" : "2014-11-28T10:00:53-04:00","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","authors" : {"andreanocesigritz" : "Andrea Sigritz"},"topics" : {
        
            "content-strategy" : "Content strategy"
            },"branch" : "bc-archive-content-3",
      "filename" :"2014-11-28-keeping-vanity-urls-in-check-a-few-criteria.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2014/11/2014-11-28-keeping-vanity-urls-in-check-a-few-criteria.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2014/11/2014-11-28-keeping-vanity-urls-in-check-a-few-criteria.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2014/11/2014-11-28-keeping-vanity-urls-in-check-a-few-criteria.md","slug" : "keeping-vanity-urls-in-check-a-few-criteria","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/11/28/keeping-vanity-urls-in-check-a-few-criteria/","content" :"\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2014/11/600-x-57-DG-Google-Plus-URL.jpg\"\n    alt=\"600-x-57-DG-Google-Plus-URL\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2014/11/600-x-57-DG-Google-Plus-Vanity-URL.jpg\"\n    alt=\"600-x-57-DG-Google-Plus-Vanity-URL\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eShortcuts, Vanity or Marketing \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_resource_locator\"\u003eURLs\u003c/a\u003e, are all names for the requests Web managers get to shorten Web addresses. The shortened links make it easy to share long links as well as track clicks on those links.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn a recent discussion thread on the \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/communities/web-content-managers/\" title=\"Web Content Managers Listserv\"\u003eWeb Managers listserv\u003c/a\u003e, several agencies offered the criteria they use to manage the requests and we’ve compiled it below.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"niaid-criteria\"\u003eNIAID Criteria\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2014/11/250-x-167-Question-mark-Feng-Yu-Hemera-Thinkstock-100550615.jpg\"\n    alt=\"250-x-167-Question-mark-Feng-Yu-Hemera-Thinkstock-100550615\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\nAt the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the New Media and Web Policy Branch developed the following guidance for Internet and Intranet URLs:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"internet\"\u003eInternet\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChange of URL for a specific organization, branch, lab, division, or topic is determined on a case-by-case basis. Criteria for this change include the following:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eApplies to a site, not an individual page or document\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAffects a broad intended audience\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eUse of the URL in print publications\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWill be used in print publications\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDuration of the requested change\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"intranet\"\u003eIntranet\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChanges of URL for sites on Inside NIAID are determined on a case-by-case basis, and must meet all of the following criteria:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMade for sites, not individual pages or documents\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIs a project or event generally lasting between 2 weeks and 1 year\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHas a specified end date (for shorter URL)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAffects all of NIAID, regardless of specific job responsibilities\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIntended for use as a part of a substantial print campaign\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlice Litsinger, Supervisory Digital Information Specialist at NIAID, acknowledges that it’s hard to define good criteria and long-term management around this topic.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"gsa8217s-shortcut-guidance\"\u003eGSA’s Shortcut Guidance\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn GSA’s Enterprise Web Management Office they refer to these requests as shortcuts, as they consider vanity URLs at the “top level” domain, according to Mark Kaprow. Their guidance around shortcut approvals are:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShortcuts should be created in lowercase letters and generally contain less than three continuous words.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShortcuts may not include special characters or underscores, unless those that contain upper letters or special characters are legacy exception shortcuts\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"marketing-urls-at-uspto\"\u003eMarketing URLs at USPTO\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) calls them marketing URLs, according to Arva Adams, as they are the shortened URLs often used in print, audio or video productions. The User Guide the USPTO developed contains this guidance for those requesting marketing URLs:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eYou want your marketing URL to be plain language and easy to remember for all audiences.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAvoid acronyms, unless they are commonly used terminology in the industry (e.g., TM, FAQ).\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEven if it seems long, words are easier for your audience to remember than letters. For example, \u003ca href=\"https://www.uspto.gov/patentsforhumanity\"\u003ewww.uspto.gov/patentsforhumanity\u003c/a\u003e is easier for your audience to remember than \u003ca href=\"https://www.uspto.gov/p4h\"\u003ewww.uspto.gov/p4h\u003c/a\u003e or \u003ca href=\"https://www.uspto.gov/pfh\"\u003ewww.uspto.gov/pfh\u003c/a\u003e, especially if the audience is unfamiliar with the program.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"why-gousagov-doesn8217t-create-custom-urls\"\u003eWhy Go.USA.gov Doesn’t Create Custom URLs\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Go.USA.gov team gets frequent requests for vanity URLs, such as Go.USA.gov/mysite, according to Meghan Daly. This is a feature of other URL shorteners like \u003ca href=\"https://bitly.com/\"\u003ebitly.com\u003c/a\u003e and \u003ca href=\"http://tinyurl.com/\"\u003eTinyURL\u003c/a\u003e, but they’re still not sure if they want to implement this on \u003ca href=\"https://go.usa.gov/\"\u003eGo.USA.gov\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGo.USA.gov URLs are permanent, by design. They do not change, and the team does not presently allow users to edit the destination of a Go.USA.gov URL. They don’t want someone to create a URL like Go.USA.gov/wildfires and have it permanently point to a URL that may go out of date or be taken down.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Go.USA.gov team also wants to prevent a landgrab for the most valuable vanity URLs. You can only imagine what would happen if someone created Go.USA.gov/healthcare or Go.USA.gov/immigration.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou can learn more about Go.USA.gov and its \u003ca href=\"http://go.usa.gov/blog\"\u003erecent improvements and features\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"}
  ]
}