Best of 2021 – See What’s Behind Bitly and TinyURL Without Clicking

Bitly is a convenient URL shortener that Ive utilized for lots of years. As a registered user I can produce customized, shortened URLs that individuals can really spell. I utilize these whenever I need to share a link to a Canva or Google Slides presentation since the default URLs provided by those services are incoherent and constantly long..

Sadly, not all Bitly users are using them for good reasons. Some people use them to conceal nefarious links. Thankfully, there is a simple way to quickly identify whats behind a Bitly URL without actually clicking on the link. The technique is to simply add a “+” to the end of any Bitly URL. When you include the “+” the URL will reroute to Bitly rather of to whatever the original URL was. That will then show you the Bitly page on which the shortened URL is hosted and will show you what the initial link was..
You can attempt this trick with a URL that I recently reduced. Bit.ly/ THWTAPRIL will lead you straight to a copy of the slides that I utilized in my recent Intro to Teaching History With Technology webinar. Bit.ly/ THWTAPRIL+ will lead you to the Bitly page where you can see my initial presentation URL and see when I created the shortened URL..
Enjoy this brief video to see how you can utilize the “+” trick to find out whats hidden behind a Bitly link..

If you wish to try this with a TinyURL, tinyurl.com/emkns9a8 will lead you to the page for the Practical Ed Tech Virtual Summer Camp, but including a “+” at the end of that TinyURL will take you to the page where you can see the original link without clicking on it.

Applications for Education.
Structure excellent digital citizenship and cyber safety skills is something that all of us need to be helping our students do. Showing them little tips like this one to avoid clicking suspicious links is among the methods that we can assist our students build their digital citizenship and cyber safety skills.

Bitly is a convenient URL shortener that Ive used for many years. There is an easy way to quickly determine whats behind a Bitly URL without really clicking on the link. The trick is to just add a “+” to the end of any Bitly URL. When you include the “+” the URL will reroute to Bitly instead of to whatever the original URL was.

This post originally appeared on FreeTech4Teachers.com. If you see it elsewhere, it has been utilized without authorization.

Heres a video overview of how to see whats behind a TinyURL without really clicking on the link.

As I do every year, Im taking today as a break from releasing new blog posts and will be republishing a few of the most popular posts of the year. Heres one from April.

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