Quick question for the pros, If someone was to link to your website but they did so using the following method, would the backlink/juice pass through to the destination URL? E.G: If they were to use a URL shortener (TinyURL, BitLY etc) in the following example, would the link juice pass through? Person buys a link on Website A, but instead of linking to www.example.com directly, they use a URL shortener to change the URL to http://bit.ly/3hDSUb. This URL still directs the search engines to www.example.com. Will any link juice and/or the backlink itself be credited to www.example.com or would any positive SEO impact be lost through the shortened URL? EDIT: Seems Google is my friend, found this which basically answers my question, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMkltd6dZzU
i haven't seen the video. cause i am in the office right now but i think shortened URL don't pass any kind of juice to your site. because they redirect the visitors form their to yours. Right?
Matt Cutts states that URL shorteners actually act exactly like 301 permanent redirects so the link juice passes through to the destination domain.