If you visit a page on Facebook or Twitter the URL will contain that person’s name, however if you look up a person on Google+ instead of their name you will be greeted with a group of letters and numbers that represent that person or company. However this is slowly changing as Google is introducing ‘Vanity URLs’.
Google first started testing custom URLs back in the middle of August 2012. About a week later, the company started notifying individuals and brands with verified accounts, but then it largely stopped expanding the feature. Now that’s finally changing.
If your profile meets the following criteria, Google+ will let you claim a custom URL:
- Has a profile photo, and
- Has at least 10 followers, and
- Has an account that’s at least 30 days old.
That should cover most active Google+ profiles. Users will be notified on the profile page when it’s their turn to set a custom URL, which should happen sometime this week. By setting up a custom URL, your profile’s address will no longer have the string of numbers after the slash. Instead, it’ll be ‘+yournameorbrandname’ in the address.
