Branding · 8 min read · Updated July 25, 2026

How to Set Up a Custom Domain for Your Short Links

A short link on a generic shared domain says "tracking link" to everyone who sees it. The same link on go.yourbrand.com says exactly who is behind it, and that difference shows up in behavior: people hover, hesitate, and skip links they cannot place, especially in email and DMs where link suspicion is at its highest.

Putting short links on a domain you own is a one-time, twenty-minute setup: pick a subdomain, add one DNS record, verify, and let SSL issue automatically. This guide walks through each step, the naming trade-offs, and the details (like what happens to the bare domain) that are easy to get wrong the first time.

Why bother with a branded link domain

• Trust and click-through. The domain is the only part of a short link a reader can evaluate. A recognizable brand in that slot removes the "mystery redirect" penalty that generic shorteners carry.
• Portability. Links printed on packaging or shared in old posts keep working as long as you own the domain. If you ever switch providers, you move the DNS record; with a shared domain, every published link belongs to the provider forever.
• Deliverability hygiene. Email filters score links partly by domain reputation. A shared shortener domain carries the reputation of everyone using it; your own subdomain carries only yours.
• Cleaner brand surface. go.acme.com/launch reads like part of your marketing because it is. Slugs you choose plus a domain you own make the whole link an asset instead of an artifact.

Step 1: choose the domain or subdomain

You have two workable options: a subdomain of your main domain, or a separate short domain bought for the purpose.

Common subdomain choices are go, link, links, and l. Pick for readability aloud: go.acme.com/demo survives being read over a podcast; l.acme.com does not. One rule regardless of choice: use a subdomain, not your main website host itself. The root of acme.com should keep serving your website; the link domain is a separate, dedicated host.

Step 2: add the domain and create the CNAME record

In ReSlug: Settings, then Domains, then Add domain, and enter the hostname exactly (go.acme.com). The app shows the CNAME target to point it at. Then, in your DNS provider (Cloudflare, Namecheap, Route 53, wherever the domain lives), create the record:

Type:   CNAME
Name:   go            (becomes go.acme.com)
Target: proxy.reslug.link
TTL:    Auto / 300

If your DNS provider proxies traffic by default (orange cloud in Cloudflare), start with the proxy off (DNS only) so the verification below can see the CNAME chain directly. DNS changes usually propagate in minutes with a low TTL, but can take up to an hour or two depending on the provider.

Step 3: verify, and let SSL issue itself

Back in the domains settings, click Verify. ReSlug does a DNS lookup and confirms the CNAME chain resolves to the proxy. Once verified, the certificate is issued automatically via Let’s Encrypt the first time the hostname is visited, no certificate files, CSRs, or renewals on your side. Within a few minutes the domain shows SSL active and https://go.acme.com/anything serves with a valid padlock.

• Verification fails? Check the record with a DNS lookup tool, confirm the name is the bare subdomain (not go.acme.com.acme.com, a classic DNS-panel accident), and give propagation a few more minutes.
• SSL stuck on pending? Visit the domain over HTTPS once, issuance is triggered on first request, and it is re-checked automatically on a schedule afterward.
• Root redirect. Decide where the bare link domain itself should send people. Pointing go.acme.com (no slug) at your homepage or the current campaign page turns typo traffic into visitors instead of an error page. ReSlug exposes this as a root-redirect setting per domain.

Step 4: make it the default and migrate

From here, create new links on the custom domain and pick slugs like you mean them: go.acme.com/pricing, go.acme.com/summer. A slug generator helps keep them short and consistent. Links you already published on the shared domain keep working; there is no need to break anything retroactively. For links being reprinted or re-shared anyway, mint the branded version and phase the old one out.

Sanity-check the cutover with a redirect checker: the branded link should answer with a redirect straight to the destination, one hop, valid certificate. If you chain your own domain redirects in front (say, apex to subdomain), every extra hop adds latency to each click, so keep the chain at one.

What it costs and what to check on a provider

On ReSlug, custom domains are not a paywall feature: the free plan includes 1 custom domain with auto-SSL, and Pro raises it to 10 for running separate domains per brand, client, or campaign. When comparing providers, the questions that matter are: how many domains per plan and at what tier, whether SSL is automatic or your problem, whether the bare-domain redirect is configurable, and whether analytics and API access treat custom-domain links identically to shared-domain ones. The provider comparisons cover where each tool gates this feature.