Go.USA.gov Creates Short, Trustworthy .gov URLs
Short URLs are useful for tracking clicks, but they can create a poor user experience because the person clicking the link can’t see the final destination. That’s why Go.USA.gov was created—to show users that they would reach official government information.
To maintain this trust, Go.USA.gov is only open to government employees and only shortens government URLs—that is: .mil, .gov, .fed.us, .si.edu and .state.xx.us URLs. We are willing to make exceptions for other government URLs that meet our criteria.
About Go.USA.gov Short URLs
You can create Go.USA.gov short URLs by logging in to your account or through the Go.USA.gov API.
Go.USA.gov short URLs never expire and are permanent by design. They cannot be modified or deleted. This is to ensure they always redirect to their assigned URL.
Go.USA.gov short URLs can’t be customized. We don’t want someone to create a short URL like Go.USA.gov/wildfires and have it permanently point to a URL that may go out of date or be taken down. We also want to prevent a landgrab for the most valuable vanity URLs.
About Short URLs Analytics
Click metrics on Go.USA.gov short URLs are updated constantly and available by logging in to your Go.USA.gov account or via the API. You can also get analytics for a short URL by using this shortcut: metrics for go.usa.gov/abcd are at go.usa.gov/shorturl/link/abcd.
You can download the total number of clicks for all of your short URLs by logging in to your account and clicking the “Export to CSV” link.
Learn More About Go.USA.gov and Start Shortening URLs
- About the service
- Recent improvements and features
- Register for an account (if you are a government employee, but do not have a .gov or .mil email address, email us)
- Reset your password
If you have suggestions, comments, or questions about Go.USA.gov, please email email us.
This article is part of this month’s editorial theme on our DigitalGov Services. Check out more articles related to this theme.
