You may read the full article later but first, head over to this page and claim a vanity URL for your Google Profile before someone else snatches your favorite user name. This is available to all Google Accounts that don’t use a Gmail address.
The current Google Profile URLs look something like google.com/profiles/1082338 but you can now replace that cryptic number with your own unique and easy-to-remeber user name as google.com/profiles/amit.labnol – the new URL is not just easy to remember but may also help improve the visibility of your Google profile in search engines.
There’s an important point here – once you’ve selected a unique name for your Google Profile URL, you won’t be able to change it later or delete it so think before deciding a name.
If you use Gmail, your email username will be your new vanity URL though you still need to activate it from your Google Profile settings. If you don’t use Gmail, you can select any available username to be part of your profile URL. If later on you sign up for Gmail, you can choose this username as your Gmail username.
Update: Your old Google Profile URLs will still work as visitors will automatically get redirected to your new vanity URL. However, if you have linked to the old URLs from any of your web pages, make sure you replace those links with the new URLs because Google is currently doing a 302 temporary redirect that passes only human visitors but not any link juice.
Find this article at: http://www.labnol.org/internet/vanity-url-for-google-profiles/8202/
Tags: Archives, exclusive, google profiles, Internet
Reader Comments
While this is good info, I realise it’s not so easy to grab one ‘before someone else snatches your favorite user name’, as if a username is not available for gmail, it is then not available. Chances are slim we will get our preferred usernames now.
Written by Palin Ningthoujam on 04.14.09
Hack, I have a Gmail account and cant choose my profile name :( , Google pls. make it a feature for Gmail users ?
Written by MegaTech on 04.14.09
I tried to make the changes, but unfortunately I can only take the name that Google has already assigned to me.. couldn’t see the one you have put at first screenshot here.
My email id dreamchaser(at)gmail(dot)com and hence Google decided to take dreamchaser as my vanity name in URL.
link
Check this screenshots to see what I am trying to explain: http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/8259/gprof1.png & link
No place for me to pick my own name in URL! Any suggestions?
Cheers
Written by Vinay on 04.15.09
But, how stupid can Google be?
If your Google profile is linked to a Gmail account, the URL will be based on your GMail user name.
If you have a GMail account and want your vanity URL, you basically have to opt-in to give your email address to spammers. Whatever the warning given by Google (“Note this can make your Google email address publicly discoverable”), this is plainly stupid.
Written by Jerome Paradis on 04.15.09
I do not see anyway to choose my own url. Its set to either my gmail username or a random number.
Written by charles on 04.15.09
Why would google do this? I have a google account and I want a vanity URL, is that much to ask? :)
Written by Robin Van RIjn on 04.15.09
MegaTech, do you use gmail? You know its spam filter works really well, right? I have no problem letting the world know my gmail address. Yahoo mail is, by contrast, a joke. If I gave that address to my mom, it would be full of spam in eight hours.
Written by Tom Birkland on 04.15.09
@Tom Birkland this is risky, giving your gmail username to public. even if gmail has better spam filters, making your email publicily viewable inceases the chances of misuse. it better to keep safe than, face problems that may rise later.
It would be better if google allows custom usernames, since mostly gmail users create a google profile.
Written by seer on 04.16.09
I thinks is good news for someone not have gmail and bad news for someone use gmail cause can’t choose username.
Written by Toni on 04.20.09