> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.verbose.cx/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Link domains & link control

> Send links on your own domain, and control where a click goes when it shouldn't reach the offer.

Every tracked link in a campaign is a short link on a **link domain**. By default
that's a shared platform domain; adding **your own** domain makes links branded,
improves deliverability, and — because it's first-party to your site — lets the
[web pixel](/pixel) tie a texted contact's on-site session back to them.

Link control then governs what happens on the click: normally it redirects to
your offer, but you can decide what to do when the link is expired, the visitor
is a bot, the link has been clicked too many times, or it's the wrong device.

## Custom link domains

A link domain is a hostname you own that points at our link service. Short links
are then served from it, e.g. `go.yourbrand.com/aB3x`.

### Routing types

| Type               | Link looks like                    | Use when                                                                    |
| ------------------ | ---------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Path** (default) | `go.yourbrand.com/aB3x`            | The normal choice — one subdomain, links on its path.                       |
| **Subdomain**      | routed per subdomain of the domain | You want the whole domain (and its subdomains) handled by the link service. |

### Add a domain

<Info>
  Adding or provisioning a domain requires the **Integrations** permission
  (`org.integrations`). Anyone who can view campaigns can *see* the configured
  domains.
</Info>

<Steps>
  <Step title="Add the domain">
    In **Settings → Integrations → Link domains**, add the hostname you want to
    send links from (e.g. `go.yourbrand.com`). It starts **inactive** — the setup
    flow is add → point DNS → verify → provision, and it doesn't go live until
    that finishes.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Point DNS at us">
    Create the **CNAME** record shown for your domain at your DNS provider. This
    is what makes your hostname resolve to the link service.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Check DNS">
    Click **Check DNS**. This resolves the hostname and confirms it points here.
    If it still resolves elsewhere, it tells you what it found so you can fix the
    record. (DNS changes can take a few minutes to propagate.)
  </Step>

  <Step title="Provision SSL">
    Once DNS matches, **Provision** issues the TLS certificate so links load over
    HTTPS. When that succeeds the domain goes **active** and campaigns can send on
    it.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Link routing rules

By default a click redirects to your offer. Link routing rules (in the campaign
or link-domain settings) let you decide what happens when it *shouldn't* — so a
click is never a dead end and never wasted. Each rule answers one question:

| Situation         | What you can do                                                                                                    |
| ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Expired link**  | Send the visitor to a fallback URL instead of a dead "link expired" page.                                          |
| **Bot / scanner** | Divert automated clicks (link scanners, crawlers) away from the offer so they don't burn a click or pollute stats. |
| **Click cap**     | After a link has been clicked N times, send further clicks elsewhere.                                              |
| **Device**        | Route by device — e.g. send desktop clicks somewhere different from mobile.                                        |

**Order is fixed and deliberate**, most-certain fact first: expired → bot →
click cap → device. An earlier rule decides the click; a later one can't rescue
it. So the order *is* the policy.

**Scope precedence — narrowest wins.** A rule can be set at the campaign, tenant
(workspace), link-domain, or global level; exactly one applies, resolved
**campaign → tenant → link domain → global**. Two rules never stack.

## Click-quality controls

The platform can divert a small **sample** of clicks to check traffic quality
(bots slipping through, broken redirect chains, junk from a network). Two modes:

* **Measure & forward** (default, conservative) — the sampled click still reaches
  your offer via a measurement hop; the recipient converts as normal.
* **Divert** — the sampled click stops at our check and does **not** reach the
  offer.

<Warning>
  `Divert` withholds real clicks from a real offer, so it costs conversions. It's
  meant as a short, small-percentage check on a specific campaign — not a standing
  setting. Every diversion is recorded so the decision can be reviewed.
</Warning>

## How links connect to the pixel

When a recipient taps a tracked link and lands on a page that runs your
[pixel](/pixel), the link service appends a `?vcx=` click id to the destination
(only for hosts you've registered as pixel origins — never to third-party offer
URLs). The pixel reads it and ties that browser session to the exact contact you
texted, so their on-site behavior can trigger flows. See
[Identifying visitors](/pixel#identifying-visitors).