Go.USA.gov – Create short, trustworthy .gov URLs

Update (2/20): The migration was a success. Thanks for your patience.

Beginning on Friday, February 17 at 9pm ET, you will not be able to create new short Go.USA.gov URLs. All existing short Go.USA.gov URLs will continue to work. Also, new users will not be allowed to register for an account.

You should be able to create short URLs again on Monday morning, if not sooner. We need to temporarily stop creating short URLs so we can move Go.USA.gov to a new hosting environment. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Also, for a short period of time after 9pm ET on Friday, Go.USA.gov will be taken completely offline. You won’t be able to create new short URLs and existing short URLs will not work. We anticipate that the service will be down for an hour or less.

We tried to complete this migration during the weekend of February 4, but had to postpone it because of technical difficulties. 

Since we launched Go.USA.gov, we've been compiling a list of your requested changes and fixes. We’re happy to report that we just implemented a number of improvements to the service based on your great feedback.

Unfortunately, when we implemented these changes yesterday afternoon, we experienced some problems that did not appear during testing. These issues have been fixed and the service should be functioning properly. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

If you have ideas for other changes, please leave a comment or email us at go.usa.gov@gsa.gov. We’d love to hear from you!

Here’s what’s new:

Fixed the Error Messages on the Blog

Our blog and some other pages on Go.USA.gov displayed an error message that said, “warning: Parameter 2 to securepages_link_alter() expected to be a reference, value given in /var/www/html/includes/common.inc on line 2883.” This error message did not impact site performance or security, but we recognize that it was obtrusive. We fixed the issue and this warning no longer appears.

Expanded the Character Limit for Long URLs

Previously, only URLs that were 256 characters or less could be shortened using Go.USA.gov. This meant that very long URLs could not be shortened. We expanded the character limit to 1,024 characters. So if you have very long URLs, shorten away!

Easy Access to Details for Short URLs

Logged-in visitors can now access the details for any short URL by visiting https://go.usa.gov/shorturl/link/xxx. For example, the details for http://go.usa.gov/abc are now available at https://go.usa.gov/shorturl/link/abc.

Now Available to More State Governments

Go.USA.gov currently shortens all .gov, .mil, .si.edu, and .fed.us URLs. We now also support all xx.state.us URLs, such as tx.state.us.

If your state or local government would like to use Go.USA.gov but you cannot register for an account, please email us at go.usa.gov@gsa.gov.

Added Navigation to the Top of Every Page

It’s now easier to find the links to contact us and to our blog, FAQs, and privacy statement. These links were at the bottom of every page, but we added them to the top as well.

Changed the Type of Redirect

When you create a short Go.USA.gov URL, it creates a redirect to point the user from the short URL to the long URL. Previously, we used what’s known as a HTTP 302 redirect, which are designed to be temporary in nature. We now use HTTP 301 redirects, which are permanent. This will ensure that the pages that you link to are properly recognized by search engine spiders who get to them via a Go.USA.gov short URLs.

Yesterday we made changes to Go.USA.gov that resulted in some short URLs not redirecting to the appropriate destination. We believe we've fixed this problem. All short URLs should function properly again.

Any URL that was created last night while we were experiencing issues may not work today. This is because we had to revert to earlier settings.

If you experience problems, please e-mail us at go.usa.gov@gsa.gov. Again, we are very sorry for these errors.

This afternoon we deployed changes to improve Go.USA.gov. Unfortunately, these changes resulted in some negative consequences that did not appear during testing. Some existing short URLs now redirect to other government sites. We deeply apologize for this and we're working to resolve this issue as soon as possible.

Over the past few weeks, you may have noticed that Go.USA.gov was down or unstable. We've traced this issue back to frequent calls being made to the details page for short URLs, which shows referrers and click details. As a result, we've had to temporarily disable the details page to ensure the stability of the service. This link currently returns an error message. The number of clicks for each shortened URL is still available.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. We are working to fix this ongoing problem by only allowing logged-in users to see the details for a short URL. We plan to make this fix in early December.

In May, we announced that the referrers page for short URLs had been temporarily disabled. We’re happy to say that last week we enabled this feature and the referrers page is available again.

You can see the referrers for a short URL by clicking on the link that says “details for xxx.”

We’re monitoring the pages to make sure they do not cause system disruptions. If you notice any issues or have problems accessing the referrers page for a short URL, please let us know. You can leave a comment on this blog post, tweet us @GoUSAgov, or contact us.

We provide basic metrics for every short URL you create, such as number of clicks and referrers. Unfortunately, we had to temporarily disable the page that shows referrers. The number of clicks is still available.

You can normally see referrers for a short URL by clicking on the link that says “details for xxx.” This link currently returns an error message.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. We are working to fix the details link and hope to make it available again in the next few weeks.

As of last Friday, whenever anyones uses bit.ly or any service that uses bit.ly’s API to shorten a .gov or .mil URL, they will receive a short 1.USA.gov URL in return.   USA.gov and Bit.ly collaborated to provide this service to create a better user experience for people who interact with the government online. Now it will be even easier for people to know when a short URL will direct them to a trustworthy official U.S. government site. Many other organizations have similar arrangements with bit.ly, including C-SPAN, NPR, Facebook, and The Economist.   We will still maintain Go.USA.gov as an option for government employees to use as a URL shortener, and Go.USA.gov URLs will continue to work. We will continue to maintain and enhance Go.USA.gov in the future.   Like Go.USA.gov, bit.ly’s tracking system gives us real-time insight into what government content people are sharing online. We are working to make click data from 1.USA.gov URLs available through Data.gov. Here's a list of the most popular popular 1.USA.gov URLs from the past week:

1. 4,592 clicks — NASA - Dallas Family's Tradition Boosts NASA for 100 Flights
2. 3,593 clicks — NASA - 'Elephant Trunks' in Space
3. 3,531 clicks — NASA - Multimedia - Video Gallery
4. 3,239 clicks — Air Force officials identify Frankfurt Airport shooting deaths
5. 3,160 clicks — Human Space Flight (HSF) - Realtime Data
6. 2,901 clicks — Magnitude 6.6 - SOLOMON ISLANDS
7. 1,979 clicks — NASA - Captured From the Ground
8. 1,915 clicks — Air Force Week in Photos
9. 1,720 clicks — PDF of presentation by Rep Paul Ryan
10. 1,702 clicks — NASA - Anchored

We'll be sharing information on popular links more regularly on the USA.gov blog. We hope you find them interesting and useful.   Please feel free to contact us if you have any other questions about any of our USA.gov short URLs.

We created Go.USA.gov because short URLs are necessary for Twitter and other online services, and we wanted to help people know when short URLs lead to official government sites. We've recently seen some of our users print Go.USA.gov URLs in government publications like brochures and posters. Short URLs can work on the printed page, but we want to point out a few issues that can create a poor user experience when using Go.USA.gov URLs in print.

Typos

When a person sees a Go.USA.gov URL in print, the person must then type the short URL into his or her browser exactly as it appears. This is easier said than done when you consider that Go.USA.gov URLs are case sensitive and contain homoglyphs. Homoglyphs are letters and numbers that look similar to each other. Examples include 0 and O (the digit zero and capital letter O), and 1 and l (the digit one and lowercase letter L). Some users leave off the characters after the hash completely and enter "go.usa.gov."

Can you tell the difference between http://go.usa.gov/l0t and http://go.usa.gov/1Ot? Each URL goes to a very different destination.

Misdirection

When a user does not type the short URL exactly as it appears, he or she may be sent to the wrong destination or to an error page on Go.USA.gov. Many users who end up on Go.USA.gov become frustrated or confused and then contact us for help. Some people even try to register for an account to access the information.

Whenever possible, we help these people find the information they're looking for, but there are ways to prevent them from getting lost in the first place.

A solution

If you want to use URLs in print, consider creating vanity URLs using readable words on your own domain, such as youragency.gov/brochure or youragency.gov/program-name. Using a URL that is easy-to-read, easy-to-remember, and easy-to-type will help your audience find their way from print to the Internet much more easily. Also, if you use your own domain, users are more likely to end up closer to the intended destination if they make a typo.

Using short URLs in print is important because no one wants to read and type a long URL from a brochure. But Go.USA.gov URLs may not the best solution when going to press. Please consider your audience and circumstances carefully before printing a short Go.USA.gov URL.

The Go.USA.gov team held an unconference session at last week’s Government Web and New Media Conference. Thanks to everyone who attended and for all of your great suggestions. Here’s a list of the ideas we heard:

Suggestions for improvement

• Create API for creating shortened URLs
• Enable unregistered users to create shortened URLs
• Provide more flexibility for metrics
• Create an API to access metrics so that social media dashboards can be created
• Create a macro or program that will auto-shorten URLs in e-mail clients
• Shorten the length of the URL (usa.gov/xyz instead of go.usa.gov/xyz)
• Add a reverse lookup function to the site (and API) so that users can preview the full URL from a shortened URL
• Allow people to shorten REALLY long URLs

Other ideas

• Create a single government tweet-scheduling application/service
• Start a discussion thread for Go.USA.gov on forum.webcontent.gov
• Use Twitter for service updates and announcements

We’re happy to announce that we’ve moved forward with the Twitter account. You can now follow us on Twitter at @GoUSAgov.

Did we capture all of your ideas? If not, please contact us or leave a comment below.

Also, if you weren't at the conference you can find a copy of the Go.USA.gov one-sheet that we handed out on the new 2010 Web & New Media Conference Resources page.