Lix.li Blog
Explore articles on URL shortening, QR codes, click analytics, REST API, SDKs, UTM parameters, and marketing automation. Practical guides for developers, marketers, and businesses.
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SEO
rel=canonical: The Complete Guide and Common Mistakes
A practical guide to rel=canonical: syntax, what the tag does and does not solve, a decision table covering canonical, 301, 302 and noindex, pairing it with hreflang across 21 languages, common mistakes, and the short-link question.
SEO
Do Short Links Pass Link Equity?
An examination of link equity through short links: why the redirect loses nothing, why there was nothing to lose on social platforms, three genuine risks of shortening, and an open question about nofollow in the HTTP header.
SEO
301, 302, 307, 308: Which Redirect Preserves the Request Method
A practical breakdown of redirects 301, 302, 303, 307 and 308: which preserve the request method, why permanent codes are nearly impossible to roll back, where this breaks APIs and webhooks, and which code to choose in each case.
Technology
Are goo.gl Links Dead? What Actually Happened to Google's Shortener
An accurate account of the goo.gl shutdown: the original plan, the reversal three weeks before the deadline, which links were actually deactivated, how to test a link you still have, and what the episode says about depending on any third-party shortener.
Guides
Is This Short Link Safe? 14 Signals to Check Before You Click
A practical method for judging a short link without visiting it: how to expand the destination, which 14 signals point to phishing, and why weighing them matters more than spotting any single one.
Technology
The Median Short Link Is Clicked From 12 Countries
A study of the geography of 723,758 short links: how many countries the median link reaches, what share of links are genuinely local, how much traffic the leading country supplies, and why this explains the flat daily click curve.
Technology
"Best Time to Post" Is a Myth: 724 Million Clicks Analysed
A study of 723,783,029 redirects across 6,768,413 links: how clicks distribute by hour and by day of week, why the creation curve is sharp while the click curve is flat, and what that means for scheduling.
REST API
API Key vs OAuth: How They Differ and Which to Choose
A comparison of two ways to authenticate an API: what a key gives you, what OAuth gives you, and the single question that decides between them. Plus which OAuth flows RFC 9700 deprecated, and why revoking an API key usually takes effect with a delay.
Guides
What Is OpenAPI: the Specification, Swagger and Versions 3.0–3.2
A walk through the OpenAPI format: the required fields of a document, the difference between OpenAPI and Swagger, and what changed in 3.1 and 3.2. Plus the part most introductions skip — nothing connects the specification to the code, how drift shows up in both directions, and the test that catches it.
Technology
Only a Third of Clicks Arrive on Day One: 144M Redirects Analysed
A study of 144 million redirects across 5.9 million short links: how clicks distribute over time, how long a link keeps working by median and percentile, why 69% of redirects carry no referrer, and what that means for campaign measurement.
The Lix.li Blog features articles about URL shortening, QR codes, click analytics, REST API, SDKs, custom domains, UTM parameters, and marketing automation. We publish practical guides, integration examples, and best practices for getting the most out of the platform.