A branded short URL is a link on your own domain, such as
go.yourbrand.com/launch, that redirects to a longer destination.
Because every click passes through your shortener on the way, every
click can be recorded. That record is the engagement report, and it
is the reason to use branded short links in the first place.
This guide covers what happens when someone clicks, how to set up tracking on your own domain, which engagement metrics to read, how to connect the report to your web analytics, and the limits that keep the numbers honest.
What happens when someone clicks
- The browser requests
go.yourbrand.com/launch. - The shortener looks up the slug and records the click: timestamp, referrer (where the click came from), user agent (device, browser, operating system), estimated country, region and city from the IP, and whether the user agent is a known bot. LinkPilot stores a salted hash in place of the IP so unique visitors can be counted without keeping addresses.
- The shortener responds with a redirect to the destination, UTM tags and all.
- The destination loads, and the site's own analytics takes over from there.
Steps 2 and 4 are measured by different tools, which is why the two reports never match exactly. More on that below.
Set up tracking on your own domain
- Add a subdomain such as
go.orlink.in LinkPilot's Domains page, create the CNAME it gives you, and wait for verification. TLS is provisioned for you. Custom domains are on the Pro plan, five included. - Create links with readable slugs that name the campaign and
the channel:
launch-email,launch-linkedin,launch-print. - Tag each link with the campaign and channel so the report can be filtered.
- Add UTM tags to the destination with the UTM builder if you also want the visit grouped by campaign in your web analytics. The short URL stays clean; the tags ride inside the redirect.
- Test on a phone before sharing: redirect, HTTPS, UTM tags intact, click visible in the report, and a sensible preview card in Slack or iMessage, which the preview checker will show you.
Which engagement metrics matter
| Metric | What it tells you | How to use it | | --- | --- | --- | | Unique clicks | How many people were sent to the destination | Reach of the link or channel | | Total clicks | How much activity the link generated | Divided by unique, an engagement ratio | | Referrer | Where the click came from | Which channel or share produced it | | Device and browser | How people arrived | Whether the destination suits mobile | | Country and region | Where interest is | Scheduling, localisation | | Time of click | When the channel works | How long a link keeps producing | | Bot share | How much of the total was scanners | Exclude before any comparison |
Unique clicks is the lead number for reach. Total divided by unique is the engagement ratio: near one means people clicked once and moved on, well above one means the link was worth returning to or was pinned somewhere people kept using it.
Referrer is the most under-read field. A branded link posted on LinkedIn that shows clicks from WhatsApp and Gmail has been shared on, which is a signal about the content, not a data error.
Click-through rate needs a denominator, so only compare it between channels where you know the impressions or opens.
Connect the report to web analytics
The short link counts the click. Web analytics counts the visit. To read them together:
- Use the same campaign name as the link tag and as
utm_campaign, so the two reports line up by name. - Compare unique clicks to sessions, not total clicks to page views.
- Expect a gap. People close the tab, block scripts, lose signal. Ten to thirty percent fewer sessions than unique clicks is normal. Eighty percent fewer means the destination is slow or there is a redirect chain in the way; the redirect checker will find it.
- Read conversions on the analytics side. The link report tells you who arrived. Sign-ups and purchases live where the page is measured. The attribution guide covers connecting the two.
Limits to keep in mind
Bots click first. Email security scanners open every link within seconds of delivery, and chat apps fetch links to build previews. A report that does not flag bots cannot be read. Exclude them before comparing anything.
Location is estimated. Country is reliable, city is not. The geographic data guide covers how far to trust it.
Privacy settings hide some clicks. Mail privacy features and proxies move the apparent location and device. Treat device and location as distributions, not facts about individuals.
Consent rules apply. Say in your privacy notice that links are tracked, keep the data for a defined period, never store raw IPs, and never put a customer's identity in the URL. Why URLs leak sensitive information covers what goes wrong when people do.
Use the data
Pick the channel with the best unique clicks per person reached and do more of it. Move the call to action to the placement that won. Localise the page for a country that clicks but does not convert. Retire the channel whose clicks are all bots. Then edit the destination of a link that underperforms rather than minting a new one, so the history stays intact and printed links keep working.
Branded short URLs earn their domain by getting clicked. The engagement report is how you find out whether those clicks were worth having.