Short link
A compact web address whose path is a code that a redirect service resolves to the real destination at the moment of the click.
Updated August 14, 2026
A short link is a compact web address whose path is a code rather than a readable page name: go.brand.com/x7Kp2 instead of a long campaign address carrying parameters. The code is not the destination. It is a key held by a redirect service, which looks the key up when someone clicks and answers with an HTTP redirect to the real address.
That indirection is the point. Because the destination lives on the server, it can be changed after the link has been printed, pasted into a bio or pressed onto packaging, and everything already published keeps working. Because every click passes through the service, it can be counted, filtered and routed by country, language or device before the visitor is sent on.
The habit worth building early is to treat short codes as a namespace rather than as disposable strings. Deleting a link releases its code and breaks anything still pointing at it, which is why archiving exists: it stops the link resolving, keeps the history, and can be undone.