How to Manage Link Shortening in Hubspot Social Posts

Using Hubspot for social media publishing lets you automatically shorten long URLs, keep posts clean, and track performance without extra tools. This guide explains exactly how link shortening works, what changed after Google’s goo.gl sunset, and how to manage old and new links in your social posts.

How Hubspot Link Shortening Works Today

The social publishing tool in Hubspot used to rely on Google’s goo.gl service for automatic link shortening. Google shut down goo.gl on March 30, 2019, which changed how some legacy short links behave, but did not affect existing redirects.

Key things to know:

• New social posts no longer create new goo.gl short links.
• Existing goo.gl links in published social messages still work and continue to redirect.
• You can safely publish new messages with full URLs or alternative short URLs.

The Hubspot interface keeps these behaviors in place so your historical social data and legacy links remain functional.

Legacy goo.gl Links in Hubspot Social

Many marketing teams used goo.gl through Hubspot social posting before 2019. Those links still appear in old posts and reports, and they remain valid.

What happens to existing goo.gl links in Hubspot

Even though you cannot create new goo.gl links, previously generated ones inside your Hubspot social tool keep redirecting without any change to destination or tracking.

• All historic goo.gl links continue to redirect to the same final URL.
• Hubspot social click metrics for those posts remain available.
• You do not need to edit or replace those old links unless you want a new destination.

What you cannot do with goo.gl in Hubspot

Because Google has fully shut down the public goo.gl interface, Hubspot is unable to request new or updated short links from that service.

• You cannot create brand-new goo.gl links from fresh posts.
• You cannot edit or regenerate a different goo.gl short URL.
• You cannot change settings specific to goo.gl, such as QR codes or user-level goo.gl analytics.

Publishing New Social Posts in Hubspot

When planning current and future campaigns, the way you add links to posts inside Hubspot slightly differs from the original goo.gl workflow, but remains straightforward.

Step-by-step: Add links to a new Hubspot social post

1. Open the social publishing tool.

   In your Hubspot portal, navigate to Marketing > Social, then click to create a new post for your chosen network.

2. Write your social copy.

   Add the main text for your post, keeping the message short and clear. Leave a space where you want the link to appear.

3. Paste your destination URL.

   Paste the full page link. This might be a blog article, landing page, or file hosted within Hubspot.

4. Optionally shorten the link outside Hubspot.

   If you want a branded short link, you can generate one through your preferred URL shortener, then paste it into the post instead of the full URL.

5. Preview and adjust.

   Check how the link displays in the network preview. Confirm the correct featured image and page title are pulled from your Hubspot or external page.

6. Schedule or publish.

   Choose the publish time and click schedule or post now. The social tool will track clicks and performance once it goes live.

Tracking Social Clicks in Hubspot

Even without new goo.gl links, you still receive robust reporting for link clicks through the social tool in Hubspot.

Where to see link performance in Hubspot

• Social reports dashboard

  View clicks, interactions, and impressions for each message or by network over a selected date range.

• Post-level performance

  Open an individual post report to see clicks on links included in that post and compare them with other engagement metrics.

• Campaign analytics

  If your social posts are associated with a campaign in Hubspot, total clicks from all related posts roll up into campaign reporting.

For marketers migrating from goo.gl reporting, Hubspot social analytics replaces the need to rely on Google’s short link reports.

Best Practices for Link Management in Hubspot

To keep your social content clean and trackable, apply these best practices while publishing from Hubspot.

Keep URLs consistent inside Hubspot

• Use the same destination URLs in ads, email, and social to simplify comparison.
• Create dedicated landing pages in Hubspot for key campaigns so you control tracking parameters.
• Avoid using multiple different shorteners for the same link, which can fragment data.

Add tracking parameters before posting from Hubspot

Instead of relying on goo.gl data, you can standardize campaign tags on your URLs before sharing them via Hubspot social.

• Use UTM parameters that indicate source, medium, and campaign.
• Generate tagged URLs from within Hubspot or your analytics platform.
• Shorten the tagged URL using your chosen branded or third-party shortener if desired.

Review old posts and redirects in Hubspot

Although existing goo.gl links keep working, it can be helpful to audit critical campaigns and evergreen posts.

• Identify high-traffic posts that rely on legacy goo.gl links.
• Confirm those short URLs still redirect correctly to current Hubspot or external pages.
• Decide whether to promote newer posts with updated URLs and campaign tags.

Hubspot Social Link Shortening: Limitations and Options

Within the current system, Hubspot respects the end of goo.gl while maintaining stability for older campaigns. There are some limits, but also several options for a smooth workflow.

Current limitations inside Hubspot

• No ability to create new goo.gl links.
• No configuration options for existing goo.gl URLs.
• No direct access to goo.gl-generated analytics from within Hubspot, beyond standard social click data.

Alternative options to pair with Hubspot

If you want branded short links or advanced URL management, you can combine Hubspot social tools with a separate shortening platform.

• Use a branded domain from a URL shortener and paste those links into Hubspot posts.
• Configure link tracking both in the shortener and within Hubspot campaign parameters.
• Rely on Hubspot reports for engagement and combine them with your shortener’s stats when needed.

Official Hubspot Documentation and Further Help

For the most accurate and current details about social link shortening behavior, always refer to the official knowledge base. You can review the original guidance on link shortening in social posts directly in the Hubspot documentation on link shortening.

If you need implementation help or broader strategy support around analytics and link structure, consider working with a specialist agency. For example, you can visit Consultevo for consulting on technical setup, measurement, and optimization of your marketing stack around Hubspot.

By understanding how legacy goo.gl links behave and how current social publishing works, you can keep every social update from Hubspot clean, trackable, and aligned with your wider reporting strategy.

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