# Links

> Add short links and app deep links, then see who clicks them and where they come from


import { Callout } from "@/components/docs";
import { Card, Cards } from "@/components/docs";

Links turn any URL into a short `dby.sh` link and count every human click on it, so you can see which campaigns, posts, and partners actually send people to you. Open **Links** in the dashboard sidebar and choose **New Link** to add one.

## Short links

A short link needs a name and a destination URL. You can pick your own slug of 3 to 50 letters, numbers, hyphens, or underscores, or leave it empty and Databuddy generates one for you. Slugs are unique, so the form tells you when a slug is already taken.

Each link can also have:

- **Folders**: group links by campaign, channel, or customer and filter the list by folder.
- **UTM parameters**: the built-in builder adds `utm_source`, `utm_medium`, `utm_campaign`, `utm_term`, and `utm_content` to the destination so your website analytics attributes the visit correctly.
- **Device destinations**: send iPhone and iPad visitors to one URL and Android visitors to another, such as the right app store page, while everyone else goes to the main destination.
- **Expiration**: stop a link at a date and time you choose. After it expires, visitors go to the fallback URL you set, or to a Databuddy page explaining that the link has expired.
- **Social previews**: the title, description, and image that Slack, X, LinkedIn, and other apps show when the link is shared. Databuddy fills them in from the destination page, and you can override any of them.
- **External ID**: your own identifier, such as a partner or customer ID, so you can find every link for that partner through the [API](/docs/api/links).
- **QR code**: customize and download a QR code for print, packaging, or events.

## Deep links

Deep links open content directly in the visitor's app on mobile instead of in a browser tab, which keeps people signed in and makes them more likely to follow, subscribe, or reply. Choose **New Link**, then **Deep Link**, pick the app, and paste an HTTPS link to the content.

Deep links support Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X, Spotify, LinkedIn, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Telegram. On a phone the link tries to open the app and falls back to the web page when the app isn't installed, and on desktop it opens the web page.

## Click analytics

Open any link to see its clicks over the selected date range, with today's count, the referrers and devices that sent them, and the countries, regions, and cities they came from. Clicks from crawlers and other bots are left out of these numbers, so they reflect people. When a social app fetches a link to build its preview, that fetch is not counted as a click either.

<Callout type="info">
  To query link clicks from your own code, use the [link analytics
  API](/docs/api/links) with `link_id` in place of `website_id`.
</Callout>

## API access

Links are covered by two API key scopes:

- `read:links`: list and read your links
- `write:links`: add, update, and delete links

Click analytics are queried through `POST /v1/query` with `link_id`, which needs a key with `read:data` and global access rather than a links scope. See [API keys](/docs/api-keys) for how to create and scope keys.

## Related

<Cards>
  <Card title="Link analytics API" href="/docs/api/links">
    Query clicks for your links and filter them by external ID
  </Card>
  <Card title="API keys" href="/docs/api-keys">
    Create scoped keys for managing links from code
  </Card>
  <Card title="Dashboard guide" href="/docs/dashboard">
    Navigate your analytics dashboard and its features
  </Card>
</Cards>