Create Web Links

Overview

Note
The information in this article is relevant to the Activation product. If you want information about web link creation for the Engagement product, read our Legacy Web Quick Link Creation article.

Web links are Branch Links that take your users to web destinations. There are four primary methods you can use to create web links:

Method 1: Create web Quick Links in the Branch Dashboard
Method 2: Create bulk web Quick Links in the Branch Dashboard
Method 3: Create Quick Links in the Branch Dashboard
Method 4: Create web links through the Deep Linking API

How Branch Links work

Web Links are web-only short links that work everywhere. App links are deep links that take users to specific pages in your app. Web and app links look the same (yourbrand.com/slug or yourbrand.app.link/slug) depending on if you choose to use a custom domain or a Branch-provided app.link domain.

Expected behavior for web links

If your end user does not have your app installed, or if you don’t have an app, the link will open in their default web browser. If they do have your app downloaded, the link will open in your app through an in-app web view.

Expected behavior for app links

If your end user has your app installed, the App Link will deep link to the specific app page you’ve chosen. If they do not have your app installed, they will taken to the redirect destination for non-app users which can be configured as a web page, a Branch Deepview, or the app store listing to download the app.

Before you begin

You can set up a custom domain in the Branch Dashboard or you can use the Branch-provided app.link domain. If you want in-app web views to work, you must have the latest version of the Branch SDK installed.

Set up a custom domain (optional)

Before you use Activation features, you can set up a custom domain (for example, link.yourbrand.com) in the Branch Dashboard. Read our Advanced Settings & Changing Link Domain article to learn how.

After you set up your custom domain, you can use it to create branded web Quick Links.

Set up app integration (optional)

You must have the latest version of the Branch SDK installed for in-app web views to work.

Tip
If you don’t want to show an in-app web view for web Quick Links, you can skip this setup.

Read the following articles to learn more:

Create web links

Method 1: Quick Links in the Branch Dashboard

You can create individual Quick Links in the Branch Dashboard.

Tip
You can quickly access the Create Quick Links page by entering deeplink.new in your browser.

Step 1: Start creating link

Complete the following steps to start creating a link:

In the Branch Dashboard, select the Create button in the top-right corner of the page.
Select Link.
Select Quick Link. The Create Quick Link page will open.

Step 2: Define your web Quick Link

Complete the following steps to define your link:

Enter your link title in the Link Title text field. We recommend standardizing your link names to make them easily searchable.
Select Web.
Enter the long URL that you want to shorten in the Destination text field. This is where your Quick Link will redirect to.
(Optional) Enter a custom link alias (slug/back-half) in the Link Alias text field. You won’t be able to change this once you select Create Link.

Step 3: Add analytics tags (optional)

Add analytics tags to your link to sort and compare performance with your other links.

You can add analytics tags in two ways in the Analytics Tags section:

Use the drop-downs to select analytics tags that you’ve used in the last 30 days.
Enter new analytics tags in the text fields and select Create [ANALYTICS TAG] to create a new tag.

Available tags

You can add the following analytics tags to your link:

Feature: Should describe the action or product where this link is placed. For UTM, this is typically utm_medium.
Channel: Should describe the platform or source from which you are expecting users to click this link. For UTM, this is typically utm_source.
Campaign: This can very, but it should describe the theme of the link. For UTM, this is typically utm_campaign.
Tags: Tags are a free-form list of meaningful labels that can be used as filters in the Quick Links table. Use them to keep your analytics organized.

Note
For a tag from a previous Quick Link to appear in the drop-down list, the previously created Quick Link must be published with at least one click on it.

Step 4: Add link data (optional)

Add any custom link settings, custom analytics tags, or custom redirect logic. You can view custom data options and advanced analytics tag options in our Create Deep Links article.

Advanced link configuration for web links

Key	Usage
`$fallback_url_xx`	Change the redirect endpoint for all platforms based on a lower-case Alpha-2 country code. For example, `$fallback_url_de="..."` would redirect Germany deep link clicks. You should also set `$fallback_url` to act as the global redirect in addition to the country-specific ones. WARNING: platform specific redirects (like $ios_url or $desktop_url) are set, they will override the country-specific redirect. Thus, the recommendation is to only use $fallback_url_xx for the country specific redirects and $fallback_url to catch all other users.
`$exp_date`	Expiry date for the content and any associated link data. Represented as UTC epoch milli second. The maximum date this can be set is 31 days in the future.
`$desktop_url`	Redirect URL for desktop devices - mobile users will default to the app store.
`$ios_url`	Change the redirect endpoint for iOS App Store page for your app (set in Link Settings).
`$ios_url_xx`	Change the redirect endpoint for iOS based on a lower-case Alpha-2 country code. For example, `$ios_url_de="..."` would redirect Germany deep link clicks. You should also set `$ios_url` to act as the global redirect in addition to the country-specific ones.
`$android_url`	Change the redirect endpoint for Android Play Store page for your app (set in Link Settings).
`$android_url_xx`	Change the redirect endpoint for Android based on a lower-case Alpha-2 country code. For example, `$android_url_de="..."` would redirect Germany deep link clicks. You should also set `$android_url` to act as the global redirect in addition to the country-specific ones.
`$ipad_url`	Change the redirect endpoint for iPads `$ios_url` value
`$samsung_url`	Redirect to Samsung Galaxy Store on Samsung devices. Only link level control. Format should be `http://www.samsungapps.com/appquery/appDetail.as?appId=YOUR.PACKAGE.NAME`
`$windows_phone_url`	Change the redirect endpoint for Windows OS Windows Phone default URL (set in Link Settings).
`$blackberry_url`	Change the redirect endpoint for Blackberry OS BlackBerry default URL (set in Link Settings).
`$fire_url`	Change the redirect endpoint for Amazon Fire OS Fire default URL (set in Link Settings).
`$ios_wechat_url`	Change the redirect endpoint for WeChat on iOS devices `$ios_url` value.
`$android_wechat_url`	Change the redirect endpoint for WeChat on Android devices `$android_url` value.

Step 5: Customize QR code (optional)

Interface for customizing a QR code with various design options and settings.

Customize the QR code for this link by selecting the pencil icon above the QR Preview section. Learn more in our Customize QR Codes article.

Select Done to save your customizations.

Step 6: Customize link preview (Optional)

Customize the link preview for this link by selecting the pencil icon above the Link Preview section. You can customize the title, description, and background image. This is what your link will look like on social media platforms, messaging apps, and anywhere that supports link previews.

Select Done to save your customizations.

Step 7: Finish creating your link

Select Create Link to finish creating your link.

Method 2: Bulk Quick Links in the Branch Dashboard

You can create web Quick Links in bulk in the Branch Dashboard.

Complete the following steps to create web Quick Links in bulk:

In the Branch Dashboard, select LinkHub.
Select Create Bulk Links in the top-right corner.
Select Quick Links.
Select whether you want to create your Quick Links with an existing template or a CSV. You can download a sample CSV to get started by selecting Via CSV Upload > sample CSV file.

Add the relevant information for your links. Open the accordion below to view more information about link information. Make sure the Web Only checkbox is selected for your links to be web links.

Expand to view available fields

Required?	Field	Description
Yes	Link Title	Link title is the name of the Quick Link that will be displayed and be searchable in the Quick Links table. Try making it descriptive and memorable for you and your team.
No	Link Alias	Link alias (link slug) is the part of the link after the domain. For example, in “branch.app.link/example”, “example” is the alias. The alias should ideally describe the landing page of the link. This can't be edited once the link has been created. If this field is left blank, Branch will generate a unique link hash for you.
Yes	Feature	Feature should describe the action or product where this link is placed.In the UTM world, this is typically utm_medium.
Yes	Channel	Channel should describe the platform or source from which you are expecting users to click this link. In the UTM world, this is typically utm_source.
Yes	Campaign (utm_campaign)	Campaign varies from company to company, but it should describe the theme of the link. In the UTM world, this is typically utm_campaign.
Yes	Original Web URL	Branch can fetch and fill data for a link from a page on your website, including open graph tags and other metadata. You'll see this metadata appear in the optional sections later in this creator. This helps reduce the number of steps for you to create a well-configured link.
Yes	Custom Key: $canonical_url	N/A
No	Tags	Tags are a free-form list of meaningful labels that can be used as filters in the Quick Links table. Use them to keep your analytics organized.
No	Social Media Title	Title that will appear in this link’s social media preview.
No	Social Media Description	Description that will appear in this link’s social media preview.
No	Social Media Image URL	Note that your image may be cropped and aligned differently depending on the social platform.
No	iOS Default Redirect	Can’t be changed when creating links in bulk.
No	Android Default Redirect	Can’t be changed when creating links in bulk.
No	Desktop Default Redirect	Can’t be changed when creating links in bulk.
No	Web Only	Column edit is restricted as per the Link Template settings. To change the setting please edit the Link Template.

Select Create Links or Publish Bulk Links depending on which method you chose.

Method 3: Quick Links in the Branch Slack App

You can create web Quick Links using the Branch Slack App. Read our Branch Slack App article to learn more.

Method 4: Web links through the Deep Linking API

The Deep Linking API is included in Engagement Essentials and Activation Essentials. You can use it to create both web and app short links.

View and manage links

You can use LinkHub to manage and view your Quick Links. Learn more in our LinkHub article. With Activation you’ll see separate Web Quick Links and App Quick Links tabs.

You can also view Web Quick Links on the Overview page in the Branch Dashboard on the All Data and Quick Links tabs.

Analyze link performance

LinkHub

In LinkHub, you can view how many clicks your links have received. Select the Clicks column in the table to sort by most clicks or least clicks. You can learn more in our LinkHub article.

Overview page

On the Overview page, use the Summary or Sources tabs to view relevant analytics for your links. Read our Overview Page article to learn more about comparing and filtering results.