Vanity URL

A vanity URL is a URL or domain name, created to point to something to which it is related and indicated in the name of the URL, very similar to a personalized URL. In many cases this is done by a company to point to a specific product or advertising campaign microsite. In theory, vanity URLs are creatively linked to something making them easier to remember than a more random link.

In social media

Social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Google+ and Twitter offer vanity URLs to their users where their username is in the URL.

For example, facebook.com/wikipedia would bring you to the Wikipedia fan page on Facebook.

Use of top-level domains in vanity URLs

A top-level domain can become part of a vanity URL. Taking advantage of countries that do not ask for proof of residence to register their country-specific TLDs can allow a user to incorporate the two or three letters following the dot, using them to help spell out the desired name, word or phrase.

For example, someone named Jane Smith might register a site on the .th domain to spell www.janesmi.th