How do redirects and shorteners affect domain reputation?

URL shorteners like bit.ly or tinyurl are heavily abused by spammers to obscure malicious destinations. Spam filters treat shortened links with suspicion. Using them in email can trigger filtering even when your content is legitimate, simply because the link pattern matches spam.

Shared shortener domains carry collective reputation. If other users of the service send spam, the domain's reputation suffers, affecting everyone's links. You inherit risk from strangers' behavior without any control over it.

Branded short links using your own domain (like go.yourbrand.com) avoid this problem. You control the reputation, the links look professional, and spam filters recognize them as consistent with your sending identity. Many link management services offer custom domain options.

Don't hitch your cargo to another merchant's wagon. If they're smuggling, your goods get seized too.