If you've ever shared a link on social media or in an email and thought "that looks kind of sketchy" — this guide is for you.
You've probably seen two types of short links before. One type looks like bit.ly/4xJ9Q. The other type looks like links.yourbrand.com/sale.
They both do the same thing — take someone from point A to point B on the internet. But one of them has your brand name on it, and one of them looks like it could go literally anywhere. If you're a business trying to get people to click, that difference matters more than you'd think.
This guide explains what branded short links are, why you'd want one, and exactly how to set one up — even if you've never touched DNS settings before.
First: what even is a "short link"?
A short link is a short, clean URL that automatically redirects the person who clicks it to a longer destination URL. Instead of sharing:
https://yourwebsite.com/blog/spring-collection-2024?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=story
You share something like:
links.yourbrand.com/spring24
Both links go to the same place. But the short version looks intentional, is easy to remember, and — crucially — doesn't expose a wall of tracking code to whoever is reading it.
What makes a link "branded"?
Most free short link tools (like Bitly, TinyURL, etc.) give you links that run under their domain name, not yours. So your links look like bit.ly/something instead of yourbrand.com/something.
A branded short link uses your own business domain (or a subdomain of it) instead. So when you shorten a link, it looks like it came directly from you — because it did.
The format usually looks like:
links.yourbusiness.com/salego.yourbusiness.com/guidel.yourbusiness.com/podcast
The part before the slash (links.yourbusiness.com) is a subdomain you own and control. The part after (/sale) is a custom alias you choose yourself when you create the link.
Why bother? Does it actually matter?
Honestly, yes — more than most people expect.
People are more likely to click links they recognise. When a link has your brand name in it, the reader's brain processes it as "this is from a real company I know." When it's a random bit.ly string, the brain asks "wait, where does this actually go?" That tiny moment of hesitation costs you clicks.
It looks professional. If you're sending SMS campaigns, posting on LinkedIn, or emailing your customer list, a branded link signals that you're a real business that cares about the details. A generic shortener link can make even a legitimate business look like spam.
You get analytics on every click. Every time someone clicks your branded link, you can see how many people clicked, what country they're from, and what device they used. This is how you find out if your Instagram posts are actually driving traffic, or if your email campaigns are getting opened on mobile or desktop.
What you'll need to get started
Before we get into the steps, here's what you need:
A domain name for your business. You probably already have one if you have a website. If not, you can register one through GoDaddy, Namecheap, or Google Domains for about $10-15 a year.
Access to your domain's DNS settings. This is the control panel where your domain "knows" what to do with web traffic. Every domain registrar (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare, etc.) has a DNS management page — usually under "DNS Records" or "DNS Settings."
A link shortening platform that supports custom domains. This is the service that actually creates and manages your short links. We'll be using gometrify in this guide — it supports branded custom domains, tracks every click, and takes about 5 minutes to connect. You can create a free account here.
Step-by-step setup
Step 1 — Choose your subdomain
You're going to create a short version of your website domain to use for your links. Common choices are:
links.yourdomain.comgo.yourdomain.coml.yourdomain.com
We recommend links.yourdomain.com — it's the most intuitive for anyone who reads it. Pick whichever feels right for your brand and write it down.
Step 2 — Create a free gometrify account
Go to gometrify.com and sign up for a free account. gometrify is the link management platform that will power your branded short links — it handles the redirects, tracks the clicks, and gives you a dashboard to manage everything.
Once you're in, go to Settings → Custom Domains and click "Add a domain."
Step 3 — Add a CNAME record in your DNS
This is the part that sounds scary but is actually just a copy-paste job. You're telling your domain "whenever someone visits links.yourdomain.com, send them to gometrify's servers."
Log into wherever you bought your domain (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare, etc.) and find the DNS Records section. Add a new record with these values:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | CNAME |
| Host / Name | links (or whatever subdomain you chose) |
| Value / Target | cname.gometrify.com |
| TTL | Auto or 3600 |
Save the record. It looks like a lot of jargon, but you're literally just filling in four fields.
Not sure where to find DNS records? Search "[your registrar name] + how to add CNAME record" — every registrar has a help article that shows you exactly where to go with screenshots.
Step 4 — Verify in your gometrify dashboard
Back in gometrify, enter links.yourdomain.com (or whichever subdomain you chose) in the Custom Domains field and click Verify.
gometrify will check that the CNAME record is live and automatically issue a free HTTPS security certificate for your domain. This usually takes between 2 and 15 minutes, depending on your registrar.
Once it says "Active," you're done with the setup.
Step 5 — Create your first branded short link
In gometrify, click Create Link.
Paste your long destination URL into the field. Then in the "Custom Alias" field, type whatever you want the back half of the link to say — like spring-sale or free-guide or podcast.
Your branded short link is now live: links.yourdomain.com/spring-sale.
Share it anywhere — Instagram bio, email newsletter, text message, printed flyer, or spoken out loud on a podcast. Every click gets logged in your dashboard automatically.
What your dashboard shows you
Once clicks start coming in, your gometrify dashboard shows you:
- Total clicks on each link over time
- Country breakdown — which countries your audience is in
- Device breakdown — how many people are on iPhone vs. Android vs. desktop
- Referrer — whether the click came from Instagram, an email, WhatsApp, etc.
This is the analytics that most businesses are missing entirely when they just paste raw links into their social posts. Every branded link you create becomes a source of real data about your audience.
A few tips before you go
Don't use spaces or special characters in your aliases. Stick to letters, numbers, and hyphens. spring-sale works. spring sale doesn't.
Make the alias descriptive. links.yourbrand.com/may-offer is better than links.yourbrand.com/a3f9. The person seeing the link should be able to guess what's on the other side.
Create a unique link for each channel. If you're promoting the same thing on Instagram, email, and SMS — create three separate links (like /spring-ig, /spring-email, /spring-sms). That way you can see exactly which channel is actually driving clicks.
Ready to get started? Create your free gometrify account →