How-to guide: Shortening a URL (advanced method)

You can tweak the way you create a short link — choose a vanity domain, pick a redirection method, set a custom alias, lock it behind a password, add meta tags, attach tracking pixels, build UTM parameters, and more.

Overview

You can tweak the way you create the generated link — for example with the use of different redirection methods. Beginning with a domain from our "vanity" domain names, redirection, custom short name, password protection and much more.

The simple shortening method covers most use cases; this advanced method is for everything else. See Shortening a URL (simple method) for the basic flow.

Domain — vanity options

You can choose or set a domain name by default. Choose between these domains:

• bevy.link
• brevii.in
• callmy.link
• contactmy.link
• myname.link
• myvcards.link
• payhere.link
• trymy.link

Or use your own branded domain — see How to set up a branded domain.

Per-link options

You have a lot of control of every URL you generate:

1. Custom — if you want to use your own link, instead of letting the site generate one for you.
2. Redirect — a redirection method redirects the visitor using the selected method (see the five types below).
3. Custom (alias) — lets you set the exact short URL. Our system will check if it has not been used before.
4. Password protection — well, only people with the password can go through.
5. Link expiration — yes, sets the link to expire on the desired date.
6. Description — sets a description for the shortened URL link (internal label, not visible to visitors).

Redirect: the five redirection types

OpenMyLink offers five types of redirection that you can use. Each of them is explained below.

Direct Redirection

A direct redirection method redirects the user without any intermediate page. This is done via the server redirect. When sharing the link with the direct method, crawlers will fetch the target page directly.

When using a pixel with the direct method, a page is shown briefly before redirection and it is required for the pixel to work.

Frame Redirection

The frame redirection method is useful when you want to cloak a website like an affiliate page. It will show a bar at the top of the page with the site information, an ad slot and some buttons to share or close the frame.

Note that some websites do not work with this method because of a security rule that forces browsers to hinder iframes (X-Frame-Options, Content-Security-Policy).

Splash Redirection

The splash page is an intermediate page very useful to give the visitor a preview of the page they are about to be redirected to. It serves as a measure of protection and gives the visitor some time to react and decide whether they want to continue or not.

Custom Splash Redirection

The custom splash redirect is a premium feature that allows our users to create their own promotional page and associate it to a short link. A visitor going through the custom splash page will see a promotional page briefly before being redirected.

Build the splash itself first — see How to create a Custom Splash.

Overlay Redirection

The overlay feature is a cool feature that allows you to use dynamic lead widgets. It uses the same principal as the frame method but without the top bar. Instead it injects some cool widgets like a popup message, contact form and a poll.

Build the overlay itself first — see How to create a Call-to-action overlay.

Meta Tags

Meta tags are snippets of text that describe a link's content; the meta tags don't appear anywhere unless you choose Splash as the redirection type. Meta tags are essentially little content descriptors that help tell search engines what a short link is about.

• Custom Banner — if you set a banner it will replace the thumbnail that is generated when you select the Splash redirection type.
• Meta Title — lets you specify a title for the destination link.
• Meta Description — lets you specify a description for the destination link.

Targeting Pixels

Add your targeting pixels below from the list. Please make sure to enable them in the pixels settings.

Ad platforms such as Facebook and Adwords provide a conversion tracking tool to allow you to gather data on your customers and how they behave on your website. By adding your pixel ID from either of the platforms, you will be able to optimize marketing simply by using short URLs.

The full pixel setup is documented in How to setup Tracking Pixels on OpenMyLink.

Parameter Builder

You can add custom parameters — like UTM tags — to the link above using this tool. Choose the parameter name and then assign a value. These will be added during redirection, so the destination URL receives them as if the visitor had clicked a fully-tagged campaign link to begin with.

Common examples:

• utm_source = newsletter
• utm_medium = email
• utm_campaign = spring-2026
• utm_content = hero-cta

For reusable parameter sets across many links, save them as templates from the Parameter Templates entry in the sidebar.