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Ask for a short URL

You can use short GOV.UK URLs to make long URLs easier for users to remember and type in. For example, gov.uk/hmrc redirects to https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs.

You might want to create a short URL when you’ll be publicising links to:

  • guidance or policy content
  • campaign sites
  • organisation and group pages

You can then use the short URLs in:

  • written media, like letters, print adverts and posters
  • broadcast media, like TV and radio
  • social media

Short URLs can link to:

  • GOV.UK pages, like https://www.gov.uk/guidance/download-the-hmrc-app
  • GOV.UK sub-domains, like https://www.registertovote.service.gov.uk/ and https://helptogrow.campaign.gov.uk/
  • external government sub-domains, like .judiciary.uk, .nhs.uk and .ukri.org

Reasons you might need a short URL

Why you need a short URL depends on the type of content it’s for.

Guidance or policy content

You might need a short or ‘friendly’ URL to share or promote government guidance offline, for example in letters or on posters.

Short URLs which redirect to Whitehall content should include the organisation name within the URL structure, for example www.gov.uk/dwp/benefits-accessibility.

Multiple departments might all want to use a generic short URL such as www.gov.uk/information-charter. Adding the organisation acronym helps to differentiate the short URLs, for example www.gov.uk/hmrc/information-charter.

If the guidance or policy is being promoted by more than one organisation and has a significant audience, talk to GDS about getting a top-level redirect without an organisation acronym.

Campaign sites

Campaign sites are used to promote particular topics or schemes. They are usually heavily publicised over TV, radio, social media and in print. If you do not have a campaign site, you might promote a guidance page or news story on GOV.UK in the same way.

It helps to have a memorable short URL for campaigns.

If the short URL is being read aloud, you should avoid using dashes as this can be harder to understand. If the short URL is only being used in written form, you should include dashes to help with readability. GDS can create versions of the short URL with and without dashes.

For example, this campaign site: https://readytopass.campaign.gov.uk/.

Has two short URLs:

  • gov.uk/readytopass
  • gov.uk/ready-to-pass

Organisation and group pages

Each government department, agency or arm’s length body on GOV.UK can have a single short URL to use when promoting itself. Read the URL standards on how organisation short URLs should be formatted.

Asking for a short URL

You can ask for a short URL if you’re the GOV.UK lead or a managing editor in your organisation.

Submit your request at least 2 weeks before you need it. The Government Digital Service (GDS) might not be able to meet your deadline if they do not get the full 2 weeks’ notice.

Use the content advice form.

You’ll need a Signon account with ‘content requesters’ permissions to access the content advice form. Speak to your GOV.UK lead or managing editor if you want access to the form.

Include in your request:

  • the reason you need a short URL
  • the content or page the short URL will link to
  • how your short URL will be used in marketing and promotion – including the channels you will be using and the number of users who will be targeted
  • what the main message will be in your marketing and communications
  • how many government organisations will promote the short URL
  • if there’s a deadline for when the short URL must go live

GDS will work with you to decide on a short URL. You can make suggestions. They should meet the URL standards for GOV.UK.

If you want to track usage of the short URL

When you raise your request, send over the full URL with UTM parameters.

UTM parameters have 3 main parts:

  • source
  • medium
  • campaign

The source is where users are coming from. This is the platform you’ll be using to share the short URL, for example ‘letter, radio, facebook, print’ or you can use the name of your department, for example ‘forestry-commission’.

The medium is the type of channel you’re using for a redirect or campaign. If you’re not sure what you use, use the default ‘shorturl’.

The campaign is the name of the promotional activity the short URL is being used for, for example ‘tax-credits-2022’.

For example: gov.uk/benefits-credits/tax-credits?utm_source=letter&utm_medium=shorturl&utm_campaign=tax-credits-2022

You can use a campaign URL builder to help put the UTM parameters together. If you’re not sure how to add parameters, include this in your request and GDS can help.
If you want to track multiple UTM parameters, like if you’re using it in both print and radio campaigns, you’ll need multiple short URLs.

Note:

Read more about how to track the use of links with UTM parameters in guidance about collecting data about user journeys.

What happens next

Someone from GDS will get in touch with you within 2 days to discuss your request.

When your short URL goes live

GDS will create the short URL once the page it is linking to goes live.

Because short URLs can only link to live content, do not publicise the short URLs until both the content and the short URL are live. If you do it before they’re live, you’ll send your users to a ‘This page cannot be found’ error page.

GDS can pre-approve a short URL if you can share a draft of the page before it goes live.