Standard URLs often expire or experience "link rot," which is when the resource they direct to is moved, edited, or deleted. Links published on a website or included in a syllabus must therefore be reviewed every semester to ensure that they are still active.

Permalinks remain active for much longer periods of time and do not change if the resource they direct to does. They do not require frequent review, saving time and resources.

Electronic resources such as journal articles and eBooks are purchased from vendors, and their use must follow the terms of the vendors' copyright licenses. Sharing PDF copies of electronic resources can sometimes violate these licenses.

Permalinks direct users through vendors' online portals and databases, ensuring copyright compliance. This also helps users to properly cite electronic resources.

Permalinks direct users to the most accessible forms of an electronic resource. For example, journal articles located on their publisher's website are provided in multiple accessible formats such as HTML and tagged PDFs.

Standard PDFs are one of the least accessible forms of electronic resource. They are often incompatible with the screen readers used by blind and visually-impaired users, and require time-intensive work to be made accessible. PDFs made from scans of a physical text can also cause eye strain and require extensive editing.