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

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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

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

We get a lot of requests for vanity URLs on Go.USA.gov. For instance, someone may want to shorten a URL to information about wildfire preparedness and give it a custom name like Go.USA.gov/wildfires. This is a feature of other URL shorteners like bit.ly and TinyURL, but we’re still not sure if we want to implement this on Go.USA.gov. Here’s why:

We get a lot of requests for vanity URLs on Go.USA.gov. For instance, someone may want to shorten a URL to information about wildfire preparedness and give it a custom name like Go.USA.gov/wildfires. This is a feature of other URL shorteners like bit.ly and TinyURL, but we’re still not sure if we want to implement this on Go.USA.gov. Here’s why: