Bitly for Chrome

Bitly for Chrome is a browser extension that can help you effortlessly share links with your friends using the Bitly online service while navigating the web with Chrome.

Shortening URLs can simply be done by visiting the Bitly website. However, this addon also gives you the possibility to customize the shortened URLs, unless the new links have not already been created by someone else.

The tool can be easily integrated with your web browser. It's linked to your Bitly account, which means you have to create one if you haven't done so by now (email confirmation is necessary). This is important because the Bitly website is the place where you can review your shortened links, since this functionality is not built into the free version of the web browser.

As soon as you click the addon's icon from the upper-right corner of Chrome, its URL receives a new, shorter name. You can customize it by trying out different combinations, edit the display name (as will be shown in your link manager), as well as copy the new link to the clipboard, or directly share it with your friends via Twitter, Facebook or email.

It's also possible to create and assign tags to websites. However, this is useful only in the enterprise edition of Bitly, which also allows you to manage shortened links within the app. Other enterprise features include mobile deep linking and omnichannel campaigns, in addition to some advanced settings.

All aspects considered, Bitly for Chrome offers a simple solution for Chrome users to shorten URLs via Bitly, as well as to customize these URLs, because this feature is not provided by the online service. Unfortunately, non-enterprise users cannot access additional goodies offered by the extension.

On top of that, we've encountered some stability issues with the latest Chrome version in our tests, as the addon failed to launch itself on click. This issue was eventually resolved by re-enabling it from the Chrome addons manager.