Use Bitly's survey to rethink short links, fix social posts that send product shoppers to homepages, and see why click-through rates can understate interest.

SEOs have spent the better part of 15 years telling clients to keep bit.ly links out of anything that matters. The case against them goes like this. A generic short link hides the brand and the keywords that a reader would otherwise see in the URL, it makes people suspicious, and it hands control of your links to somebody else.

A new Bitly survey of 1,507 Americans says that case is half right. But the half SEOs have been ignoring is costing more clicks than the half we keep arguing about.

Jenny Coppola, Bitly’s senior director of brand and content, published “The Click Expectation Report” on the Bitly blog on Sept. 29. It draws on 1,006 U.S. consumers and 501 U.S. marketers and creators surveyed between July 27 and Aug. 5, 2026.

Yes, a link management company ran a study that concludes you need link management. I’ll come back to that. But the consumer data inside the report is more useful to SEO, paid media, and social teams than the sales pitch wrapped around it, and it’s worth reading before your next planning meeting.

Start with the part of the old argument that holds up. When Bitly asked consumers what makes them hesitate before clicking a link, 23% named generic shorteners that hide the brand’s name.

That’s a real cost. It also sits near the bottom of the list.

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