LinkedIn has never been more competitive. With millions of recruiters, creators, and brands sharing links daily, your visibility depends on how quickly your content earns trust and engagement. A shortened, custom LinkedIn URL can help you stand out, boost click-through rates, and maintain a professional look across posts, comments, and your LinkedIn profile. Instead of dropping a long, cluttered web address with each post, you can create a clean custom URL that reinforces your brand and builds credibility with every click.
This article explores how to make your profile more discoverable and your content more shareable with custom short links. In 2025, a smart LinkedIn URL shortener like Bitly can help you optimize your content, track clicks, and elevate your online presence across social media platforms.
Note: The brands and examples discussed below were found during our online research for this article.
What is a LinkedIn link shortener?
A LinkedIn link shortener is a tool that turns long, cluttered URLs into short, professional links that fit perfectly in your posts, profile, and messages. While LinkedIn now includes an updated profile URL editor that lets you create a cleaner public profile URL through the Edit contact info menu (accessible via the pencil icon on your profile), it only lets you customize your personal page link.
In contrast, using a platform like Bitly lets you create branded short links for any LinkedIn post, article, or campaign. You can use custom domains, track clicks, and measure click-through metrics like location (city/country) and device type to understand how your audience interacts with your content. Shortening your links also helps your posts look cleaner and more professional. It’s about improving readability and brand consistency, not gaming the algorithm.
Benefits of using a LinkedIn link shortener
Figuring out how to get more views on LinkedIn can be difficult. The platform’s operation is pretty opaque, and the links you share (and how you share them) can really affect your reach.
A LinkedIn link shortener is more than a space saver. It’s a way to elevate your professional image, improve engagement, and track what actually drives clicks on your content. In 2025, when every post competes for attention and LinkedIn’s algorithm deprioritizes external links, short, branded URLs make a strong first impression, improving click-through rate by up to 39 percent, and helping your audience trust what they’re clicking. Short URLs are easier to share cleanly in article comments, which experts recommend if you want to boost your main post’s reach.
Better user trust and professionalism
A clean, recognizable short link signals professionalism in your LinkedIn posts, InMail messages, and even recruiter outreach. Instead of pasting a long URL full of tracking parameters, create a branded short link like yourbrand.co/demo or go.yourname.com/portfolio. These links look credible and reinforce your brand with every interaction. For recruiters and sales teams, a trusted link can mean the difference between a click and an ignored message.
Personalize and shorten your LinkedIn profile’s URL
You can edit your LinkedIn profile URL directly by clicking the pencil icon on your main page. That lets you replace a long default slug like linkedin.com/in/jane-smith-934b7x with something polished like linkedin.com/in/janesmith, but only if the URL you want isn’t already taken by another user.
Bitly takes personalization further. You can use a custom domain to create shareable, trackable links for resumes, business cards, or LinkedIn QR Codes, for example, jsmith.co/linkedin. It’s the perfect way to align your LinkedIn presence with your broader personal branding strategy.
Higher click-through rates
When you share long URLs in LinkedIn posts or newsletters, they look messy and discourage engagement. A shortened link performs better because it’s clear and easy to read. For instance, instead of posting a long gated asset link like
www.companysite.com/resources/ebook2025/linkedin-download-trends, you can post companysite.com/linkedin-ebook.
As mentioned, branded short links can improve click-through rates by almost 40 percent. On a platform built on credibility, clean, branded URLs encourage trust, and trust drives clicks.
Improved sharing and engagement
Shorter, branded links are easier to share in posts, across social media platforms, and throughout comment chains without breaking up the flow of your message. When you post a link to a newsletter or event signup, a concise LinkedIn link looks more professional and invites more interaction. Plus, short links help you stay within character limits, leaving room for stronger calls-to-action and hashtags.
Robust marketing data and analytics
LinkedIn offers limited insights on post link performance, but Bitly Analytics gives you a clearer view. You can track clicks by device type, geography, referrer (using UTM tracking), and campaign tag to understand exactly where engagement comes from. Combine Bitly data with LinkedIn Campaign Manager or Google Analytics for full visibility into your campaign impact.
LinkedIn ad benchmarks offer great insight into how your metrics stack up once you start using Bitly to turn your links into measurable marketing assets.
Who benefits from using a link shortener on LinkedIn?
A LinkedIn link shortener like Bitly supports everyone who shares links on the platform, from individuals looking to improve their visibility to teams optimizing outreach and lead generation. Here’s how it helps three key audiences:
Job seekers
A short, branded LinkedIn link makes your public profile URL more professional across resumes, email signatures, and business cards. When you share a shortened link like yourname.co/profile, recruiters see a polished personal brand. You can then use Bitly Analytics to track clicks from job applications or portfolio submissions and see which channels drive the most engagement.
B2B marketers
Marketers rely on short links to track campaign performance and keep posts scannable. By using branded short links in newsletters, lead-gen ads, and social posts, you can maintain consistency while capturing detailed analytics, like number of clicks, referrer sources, and device types. Pair Bitly with LinkedIn Campaign Manager to measure ROI and optimize future campaigns with real data.
Sales teams
For sales reps and account managers, a custom link built using a URL shortener adds trust to InMail messages and outreach sequences. Instead of sending a long link to a demo or landing page, a clean link like brand.co/demo can improve response rates and credibility.
Sales teams can also use pre-built integrations from the Bitly Marketplace or custom workflows structured around our open API to generate personalized links at scale and deliver information about which touchpoints drive conversions to CRM suites and BI platforms.
How to create a shortened link with Bitly
Now that we’ve covered some of the benefits of link shortening and where it makes the most sense to use short links, let’s walk through step-by-step instructions on using Bitly as a LinkedIn URL shortener.
- First, head to Bitly.com and log in or create an account.
- Once logged in, select the Create new button on the left-hand navigation bar and then select Shorten a link. Alternatively, hit the letter B anywhere in the Bitly app to start creating a link.
- Paste your long URL (like your LinkedIn profile URL or the long URL for a specific LinkedIn post) into the Destination box.
- Customize your short link if you like. Edit the back-half of your shortened link to make it more recognizable (for example, bit.ly/LinkedInTips2025). Or select a custom domain for complete control (like yourbrand.co/tips).
- Add link tags to group URLs by campaign or audience. Tags make it easier to compare performance across multiple LinkedIn posts or newsletters.
- Select Create your link.
- That’s it! You’ve created a shortened LinkedIn URL. The link will be automatically copied to your clipboard.
- Check your Bitly Analytics weekly to monitor the number of clicks, referrers, and devices. Use these insights to refine your LinkedIn campaigns and optimize future posts for better engagement.
Key link metrics you can track with Bitly
Bitly goes beyond shortening your LinkedIn URLs. It gives you the data you need to refine your social media strategy, improve engagement, and understand how people interact with your content. The Bitly Dashboard provides detailed insights that help you optimize your LinkedIn posts, InMail campaigns, and landing pages.
You can also pair Bitly Analytics with Google Analytics or LinkedIn Campaign Manager for deeper performance tracking and attribution clarity.
Number of clicks
Your number of clicks reveals how effectively your shortened link captures attention. Use this metric to evaluate which posts, newsletters, or outreach messages resonate most. If you’re a recruiter sharing a job listing, clicks indicate candidate interest. For B2B marketers, this metric shows which campaigns or CTAs drive engagement, helping you focus your efforts where they perform best.
Date of clicks
Tracking the date of clicks helps you identify when your audience is most active on LinkedIn. You can align future posts, messages, or updates with peak engagement windows to increase visibility. For example, if your Bitly data shows a click spike on Thursdays and Fridays, schedule posts or send InMail messages during that window for maximum reach.
Device types
Bitly’s device breakdowns show whether your audience engages via desktop or mobile. Since most LinkedIn users browse on mobile, these insights help you optimize landing pages, visuals, and CTAs for smaller screens. If you notice a high share of mobile clicks, ensure your LinkedIn links lead to responsive, fast-loading destinations.
Geographical data
Geographical data helps you understand where your audience lives and works, allowing you to target the right markets. If you’re running LinkedIn ads or regional lead-gen campaigns, use this data to refine targeting or adjust language and offers by city or country. You can also detect irregular patterns, like clusters of clicks from unexpected regions, which could signal spam or click fraud.
Together, these metrics help you track clicks, measure engagement, and optimize every short link you share on LinkedIn. Combine Bitly’s insights with Google Analytics to uncover richer patterns and continually improve your campaign performance.
Maximize your LinkedIn presence with Bitly
Whether you’re growing your network, running campaigns, or connecting with prospects, every link you share shapes how people see your brand. With Bitly, you can create branded short links, track engagement, and optimize your LinkedIn strategy using real performance data. Start by shortening your LinkedIn profile URL, then expand to posts, newsletters, and outreach messages for consistent visibility and trust.
Take the next step toward a stronger, more measurable presence on LinkedIn. Create your Bitly account today and start turning every click into actionable insight.
