Ive produced a couple of short video demonstrations of how this technique works. This is the Instagram video that I made about it. This is the YouTube video that I made about it.

You can attempt this with my Bitly link of.
bit.ly/ 2ZZnuP2 which will take you to the registration page for my Practical Ed Tech Newsletter (.
https://practicaledtech.com/weekly-newsletter/). If you try the very same link however add “+” to the end of it so it reads like this.
bit.ly/ 2ZZnuP2+ you will go to the Bitly page where I reduced my original URL.

Bitly is a practical tool for producing short URLs to share in place of long URLs. Ive utilized it for years to produce customized URLs that are simple for my trainees to type. Sadly, some people use Bitly to try to mask URLs to try to get you to click on wicked links. Luckily, there is an easy way to see where a Bitly link will take you without needing to in fact click on the link..
The trick is to merely include a “+” to the end of any Bitly URL. When you include the “+” the URL will reroute to Bitly instead of to whatever the initial URL was. That will then show you the Bitly page on which the shortened URL is hosted and will reveal you what the original link was..