Shortening a Google Forms link: forms.gle or your own alias

Google Forms handles a lot: event sign-ups, surveys, course applications, order forms. The standard form link, however, is long and meaningless, something like https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQL.../viewform. It looks clumsy in a post and is nearly impossible to copy from a poster. Here is how to shorten it and when each option makes sense.

First: Google has its own short link

In Google Forms click Send, choose the link tab and tick Shorten URL to get a forms.gle/... link. It is free, needs no extra account and sits on a Google domain, which people trust. If a short link is all you need, forms.gle is perfectly fine and you do not need linkz.ge.

When linkz.ge is the better choice

• Your own alias. forms.gle gives you a random code; on linkz.ge you choose it: linkz.ge/signup, linkz.ge/survey. You can read it out on the phone or radio, and people copy it from a poster without mistakes.
• Click statistics. Google Forms shows how many responses you got, not how many people opened the form. linkz.ge shows clicks over time, countries and devices, so you can compare opens with completed responses.
• Changing the destination. A forms.gle link always points to the same form. On linkz.ge you can change the destination at any time: build next year's form and old posts and printed posters lead to it.
• Telling sources apart. Give Instagram, Facebook, SMS and posters separate links and see where people come from.

To be clear: linkz.ge counts clicks on the link. Who filled in the form and what they answered is visible only in Google Forms; linkz.ge cannot see responses.

Step by step

1. In Google Forms click Send, choose the link tab and copy the full link. Leave Shorten URL unticked; paste the docs.google.com link straight into linkz.ge to avoid an extra redirect.
2. Create a free account; you need one for a custom alias and statistics.
3. Paste the link in the dashboard and set an alias under advanced options, for example linkz.ge/signup (3 to 32 characters: Latin letters, digits, _ and -).
4. Untick "Ads and earnings on this link". It is on by default, and participants would see an ad page before the form.
5. Shorten, then test on a phone and in a private (incognito) browser window.

QR codes for posters and flyers

Click the QR icon in your link list, choose a color and size (S, M or L) and download the PNG. Because the QR code contains the short link rather than the form itself, you can switch to a new form on linkz.ge and posters already printed keep working. Print the short address under the code as well, and create a separate link for each location (a campus board, a cafe, a flyer). Printing tips: QR codes for menus and business cards.

Pre-filled links

Google Forms can create a link with some answers already filled in. In the form editor open the menu (three dots), choose Get pre-filled link, fill in the fields you want, click Get link and copy it. The answers are stored as entry.123456= parameters; respondents can still change a pre-filled answer.

• Source inside the form: pre-fill "How did you hear about us?" with "Poster" in one link and "Instagram" in another; the source lands in your responses automatically.
• Branch, group or class: one form for several branches, each with its own pre-filled field.

These links are very long, especially with non-Latin text, which is encoded into many characters. As far as we know, Google's Shorten URL option applies to the main form link, while a pre-filled link stays long, and this is where linkz.ge helps. Give each variant its own short link (linkz.ge/reg-poster, linkz.ge/reg-insta): linkz.ge shows how many opened it and the form responses show how many completed it from each source.

UTM parameters for a form?

Usually pointless: UTM tags show up in your own Google Analytics, but the form lives on a Google page where your analytics do not run. To tell sources apart, use separate short links and a pre-filled field. Save the UTM builder for links to your own site.

Common mistakes

• testing the form only from the editor while signed in; other people may be asked to sign in;
• printing a new QR code every year when changing the short link destination would do;
• leaving the ad page on for a sign-up link;
• one link for every channel, so you cannot tell which worked;
• personal data in a public pre-filled link.

More on statistics: How to see how many people clicked your link.