A custom short link is a shortened URL where you choose what people see. The back-half is the text after the slash, like /spring-sale. On a branded short link the domain is yours too, as in go.yourbrand.com/spring-sale. Both redirect to a longer destination URL and record each click.
The two parts you can customize
Every short link has a domain and a back-half. In rqk.sh/spring-sale, rqk.sh is the domain and spring-sale is the back-half. Customizing each part is a separate choice.
A custom back-half on a shared domain needs no setup. Reqlick includes custom back-halves on every plan, using its rqk.sh domain.
A branded short link puts the back-half on a domain you own. That usually takes one DNS record, explained under custom domain. Reqlick Starter includes 1 custom domain, Pro includes 3 and Business includes 25.
Why choose the back-half yourself
A readable back-half works in places where nobody can click. People can type go.yourbrand.com/menu from a poster or remember it from a podcast. Nobody remembers a random back-half like x7Kp2Qa.
It also hints at where the link goes. That helps in SMS and email, where readers judge a link before they tap it. It keeps your dashboard readable too: /webinar-oct is easier to find than a random string six months later.
One reason often given for short links is saving characters on X. That one doesn't hold up. X counts every URL as 23 characters, whatever its real length (X developer docs). On X, a custom short link helps readers, not your character count.
How custom short links work in Reqlick
You pick the back-half when you create the link, or let Reqlick generate one. Back-halves are unique per domain, so /sale can exist on rqk.sh and on your own domain at the same time.
The destination stays editable. Change the page behind go.yourbrand.com/sale and every flyer and bio link that uses it follows.
Every custom short link is also a tracking link. Clicks show up with time, location, device and referrer. Pro and Business add password protection, expiration dates and device targeting.
Worked example: one app link, two stores
Suppose a bakery launches a loyalty app on the App Store and Google Play. Its flyer has room for one link and one QR code. The bakery connects go.yourbakery.com and creates go.yourbakery.com/app.
With device targeting on the Pro plan, the link sends iPhones to the App Store listing. Android phones go to the Google Play listing. Everyone else, including desktop visitors, lands on the bakery's website. One printed link covers both stores.
For a spring promotion, the bakery later adds go.yourbakery.com/spring on the same domain. Both links then sit in one report, each with its own click count.
Custom, branded or vanity
"Branded link", "vanity URL" and "custom short link" usually mean the same thing. Some people say "custom" when only the back-half is chosen and "branded" when the domain is theirs too. Reqlick calls the second case branded short links.