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How Short Links Work

Short Links transforms long, complex URLs into clean, memorable links that are perfect for marketing, social media, and customer communications. Understanding how the system works helps you use it m...

Short Links turns long, awkward store URLs into clean links that live on your own domain — the kind you can print on packaging, put in an Instagram bio, or read out loud. Knowing what happens between the click and the destination makes it easier to decide how to use them.

What a short link is

When you create a link, the app reserves a short key on your store’s domain and points it at your destination. Anyone who visits the short URL is sent on to that destination, and the app records the click on the way through.

For example:

  • Destination - https://yourstore.com/collections/winter-sale?utm_source=email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=winter2026

  • Short link - https://yourstore.com/winter

The short link is cleaner and easier to share, and it still gets your customers to exactly the same place.

URL structure

Your short links follow this structure:

https://yourstore.com/{key}

  • yourstore.com - Whichever domain is primary in your Shopify store

  • {key} - The short key, either one you chose or a five-character key the app generated

Examples:

  • yourstore.com/sale for a sale collection

  • yourstore.com/new for new arrivals

  • yourstore.com/k4m2p for a generated key

Choosing your own key is a paid-plan feature. On the free plan every link gets a generated one.

Links created before 29 July 2024 use the older yourstore.com/a/s/{key} form and keep working exactly as they always did. Every link’s page, and the copy button in the links table, always show the right URL for that particular link — so copy from there rather than typing one out.

What happens when someone clicks

  1. The visitor opens your short link, for example yourstore.com/winter

  2. Your store recognises the short key and hands the request to Short Links

  3. The app looks up the destination and records the click

  4. The visitor is redirected to the destination

This takes milliseconds, so the redirect is invisible to the visitor.

UTM parameter passthrough

Short Links can forward UTM parameters from the incoming link on to the destination, which lets a single short link serve several channels.

You share on Facebook: yourstore.com/sale?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social

The visitor lands on: yourstore.com/collections/sale?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social

Google Analytics then attributes the session to your Facebook campaign even though the visitor followed a short link. UTM passthrough is a paid-plan feature and is switched on by default; you can turn it off under Settings.

Click tracking and analytics

Every click is recorded automatically. For each one the app stores:

  • When - The date and time of the click

  • Where from - The referring site, or nothing at all for direct traffic

  • Device and platform - Worked out from the browser, so clicks can be split into mobile, tablet and desktop, and into iOS, Android, Windows, Mac and the rest

That data drives the Analytics page: clicks over time, your top links, the sites sending you traffic, the device and platform split, and a per-country breakdown on each individual link’s report.

Analytics is a paid-plan feature. On the free plan you can create and share links and still see each link’s total click count, but the charts and breakdowns are replaced by an upgrade prompt.

Next Steps

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