Short links

A tracking link is about 150 characters of query string. That is fine in an ad platform and unusable everywhere a person actually reads a link — an SMS, a QR code, a bio link, a printed insert.

A short link is a publishable address for one of your links:

https://go.yourbrand.com/s/1A7kP9mQ2x4f

A click on it is tracked exactly as the long URL would be — same destination, same traffic source, same sub IDs — and shows up in your normal reports.

Creating one

1. Press Create short link.
2. Pick the destination — one of your own links. There is no box for an arbitrary URL: a short link always points at a link you already have in Routy.
3. Pick the traffic source the clicks should be attributed to.
4. Optionally fill in the tracking you want frozen onto the link: Sub ID A, Sub ID B, a click ID, a campaign, extra parameters, hide-referrer.
5. Optionally set an expiry. Leave it empty and the link never expires — there is no default.
6. Press Create.

The next step shows the finished address with a Copy button. That is the whole point of the feature, and it is the only place the address is handed to you complete — copy it before you close the drawer, or read it off the list afterwards.

The address is not yours to choose

There is no "custom alias" field, and the address can never be renamed. It is already publishable the moment it exists, and changing it would break every copy already in the wild. If you want a memorable address, that is a cloaked link — a different feature, on the traffic source.

Which domain the link is issued on

Short links are issued on a host assigned to you. If you have more than one, you can pick; if you have one, it is shown as plain text because there is nothing to choose. Many publishers have exactly one, and that is normal — a publisher placed on their own dedicated host is deliberately not offered the shared ones.

The host is fixed for the life of the link. A short link only works on the host it was issued on, which is why the list shows each link's own full address rather than rebuilding it from your current domain.

If you see a message saying you have no usable tracking domain, nobody can fix that from this screen — your account manager has to assign you a new one.

What gets stored

Everything you fill in on the create form is frozen onto the link and replayed on every click.

That has one consequence worth understanding, because it reads backwards otherwise:

Parameters that name the owner or the attribution — PA, PB, cid, clickId, camp, offer, Affid, ts and the like — are ignored when they arrive on the short address. The stored value always wins.

This is deliberate. A short link is handed to third parties, and anyone holding it could otherwise rewrite your reporting by editing the address.

Anything that is not reserved still passes through, and still wins. So a value that has to vary per send — utm_source, your own sub_id, whatever your system uses — belongs there, appended to the address, not in the stored tracking.

Sub ID A, Sub ID B and the click ID are capped at 100 characters. A longer value is discarded when the click is recorded, so the form counts characters and refuses rather than letting you publish a link that silently loses data.

Testing and debugging

Everything you already use on a cloaked link works on a short link unchanged: ?test=1, ?debug=1, ?rp=1, ?cc=, ?h=1, ?testlink=1.

Creating thousands at once

Create in bulk takes one value per line and creates one short link per line, storing the line as that link's Sub ID A — one per SMS recipient, one per printed code. Everything else on the form (destination, traffic source, campaign, extra parameters, expiry) is shared across the batch.

The results step lists every line's outcome. Some failing while others succeed is a normal outcome, not an error: the successful addresses are still yours to use. Copy all addresses and Download CSV both work on the whole batch.

Why a batch has a name

Each item is submitted with a key built from the batch name and the line's position. If a batch times out or you are not sure it went through, re-submitting the same batch with the same name returns the links it already created instead of creating a second set. Those rows come back marked Existing — that count is not a failure, it is the safety net working.

If you want a genuinely new set of links, change the batch name.

Reading the list

• Short link — the full address, with a copy button. The batch key is shown underneath when the link came from a bulk run.
• Destination — the link it points at.
• Traffic source — where its clicks are attributed.
• Tracking — the stored sub IDs, click ID and campaign.
• Status — Active, Expired or Blocked.
• Expires / Created.

Status

The Redirecting? filter answers a slightly different question from Status: it asks what the router would do right now, which also accounts for an expiry date that has passed.

Finding a link again

The search box matches the address, exactly. Paste the whole link or just the code after /s/ — both work.

To find a bulk batch instead, use the Batch key filter in the filter panel, which matches the key exactly.

Editing

You can change where a short link points, its traffic source, its stored tracking and its expiry. You cannot change the address.

Editing the tracking replaces it: the form is loaded with what is stored today and saves back whatever it shows, so clear a field to remove it rather than expecting it to be left alone.

Expiring a link

Expire stops a link redirecting. It is not a delete:

• The row stays in the list, marked Expired.
• Anyone following the address from now on gets a "this link is no longer available" page.
• There is no way to un-expire it. Create a new short link instead.

There is no delete in this release.

Common problems

"Short links aren't included in your current plan." Your plan carries no short-links allowance. This is the message you get on the very first attempt, before you have created anything — it is a plan question, not a mistake you made. Your account owner or billing contact can upgrade.

"You're using N of N short links." You have the feature and every slot is in use. Expiring links does not free slots; upgrading the plan raises the limit.

The link 404s. Check you are using the address exactly as the list shows it, host included. A short link only works on the host it was issued on — a link rebuilt on a different domain of yours will not resolve.

A parameter I appended did nothing. It is probably a reserved one. See What gets stored above.

When to escalate to engineering

• A short link 404s even though its address matches the list exactly and its status is Active.
• Clicks on a short link do not appear in reports, or appear with the wrong traffic source or sub IDs.
• A link is Blocked and nobody can say why.