One short link can send visitors to different destinations by country, city, device, browser, language or operating system, or split them for an A/B test. How targeting works on Digily Link and when it pays off.
A link in a bio, on a poster or in an advert is tapped by people who are not alike. Some are in Ireland and some in Leeds, some on an iPhone and some at a desk, some read French and some do not. Sending all of them to the same page means most of them land somewhere slightly wrong. Targeting rules on a short link fix that without any code. The address stays the same; the destination is chosen at the moment of the tap.
What a targeting rule can look at
Every short link on Digily Link has a default destination and, optionally, a list of rules. Each rule pairs a condition with a different URL, and the first rule that matches wins. The conditions available are continent, country, city, device type (mobile, desktop or tablet), browser, browser language and operating system. There are also two ways to split traffic without looking at the visitor at all. Rotation shares the visits equally between several URLs, and percentage chances lets you set the share yourself, for example 80 per cent to the current page and 20 per cent to a test page. Targeting is included on every plan, including Free.
Six situations where it pays off
App downloads by operating system
One link that opens the App Store on iPhone, Google Play on Android and a landing page on desktop. This is the most common use, and it removes the "choose your platform" page entirely.
Shops that serve more than one country
A UK visitor lands on the pound-priced shop, an Irish visitor on the euro one, and everyone else on the international page. The same rule keeps EU customers away from a page that cannot ship to them.
Language
Send visitors to the version of a page written in their browser language. If you publish in English and Welsh, or English and Polish, one printed link serves both audiences.
Mobile and desktop
A long form is fine on a laptop and painful on a phone. Point mobile visitors at a short form, a WhatsApp chat or an app, and desktop visitors at the full page.
Businesses with several locations
City targeting sends a Manchester visitor to the Manchester branch page and a Liverpool visitor to Liverpool, while a single QR code goes on the national leaflet. Cities are estimated from the network address, so treat this as a strong hint rather than a guarantee.
A/B tests
Put two versions of a landing page behind one link with rotation, wait for a few hundred clicks, and compare. Give each version its own UTM parameters with the UTM link generator so the results show up separately in your analytics.
Setting it up step by step
- Create a short link in the dashboard with the destination most visitors should see. That is the default.
- Open the link's settings and find Targeting. Choose the targeting type, for example country.
- Add a rule for each audience. A rule is a value, such as IE for Ireland, and the URL those visitors should get. Add as many as you need.
- Save, then test. Change your browser language, use a different device, or ask a friend abroad to tap the link. The URL redirect checker shows the redirect from its own location, and the user agent parser shows what your device reports about itself.
Rules are evaluated on Digily Link's server before the redirect, so the visitor never sees a choice page and the short link stays identical everywhere it is printed or posted. The short links page describes the other settings that live alongside targeting.
Settings that combine well with targeting
- App linking. Targeting decides which page; app linking decides whether it opens in the app. A YouTube destination with "auto open app on mobile" and an OS rule for the download page is a common pair. See what deep linking is.
- UTM parameters. Add source, medium and campaign to every destination so your analytics can tell targeted visits apart.
- Scheduling and click limits. On the Starter and Pro plans a link can start and stop on set dates, or stop after a number of clicks and send later visitors to an expiration URL.
- Splash page. A short branded page before the destination, useful when the destination is not your own site.
- Your own domain. On Starter and Pro the targeted link can live at go.yourbrand.co.uk/offer. The custom domain documentation lists the DNS records.
Reading the results
The link statistics break clicks down by country, city, device, browser, operating system and language, so you can see which rules actually fired and whether the audience you expected exists. If a country rule matches ten visits a month, it may not be worth maintaining a separate page for it. Statistics are collected without a tracking cookie, so nothing needs adding to the destination pages.
Frequently asked questions
Does the visitor notice the redirect?
No. The redirect happens on the server in a fraction of a second, and the visitor arrives at the chosen destination as if they had tapped it directly.
How accurate is location targeting?
Country is reliable. City is an estimate based on the network the visitor is on, and mobile networks in particular can place someone in the wrong town. Use city rules for convenience, not for anything that must be exact.
What happens when no rule matches?
The visitor goes to the default destination. Always set a sensible default, because it is the page most of the world will see.
Can I use targeting on a bio link page?
Targeting belongs to short links. Create the targeted short link, then use it as the destination of a button on the page. The button behaves the same for everyone; the short link does the routing.
Does it work with QR codes?
Yes. Generate the QR code from the short link rather than from the destination. The code is fixed, the rules behind it can change at any time.
Final checks
- The default destination is the page most visitors should see.
- Each rule has been tested from a device or location that matches it.
- Destinations carry UTM parameters so the visits can be told apart later.
- QR codes and printed material use the short link, not the destination.
- You have looked at the statistics once to confirm the rules are firing.
