How to choose a custom domain for your short links

Learn how to choose the right custom domain for your short links on Dub.

Custom domains are a great way to improve the click-through rates of your short links. They are especially useful if you want to use a domain that is relevant to your audience and content.

On Dub, you can add custom domains for free. The number of domains that you can add depends on your plan:

• Free plan: 3 domains
• Pro plan: 10 domains
• Business plan: 40 domains
• Enterprise plan: Unlimited domains

Which custom domain should I choose for my short link?

When choosing a custom domain for your short links, consider the following factors:

1. Brand: Choose a domain that best reflects your brand – ideally containing your brand name in it. For example, if your company domain is jupiter.com, you can use a domain like jupiter.link or go.jupiter.com.
2. Length: Shorter domains are easier to remember and type. To achieve this, some companies might opt for acronyms or abbreviations. For example, one of our customers Tinybird uses tbrd.co for their short domain.

The only exception here is you’re going for a .link TLD, or a go. subdomain, which are both slightly longer than your original domain.

Here are some examples of custom domains that you can use for your short links – based on what we’ve seen our customers use:

Option	Format	Real-world examples	Usage on Dub
Subdomains	go.domain.com	Clerk → go.clerk.com Nuxt → go.nuxt.com Cal.com → go.cal.com Causal → go.causal.app	32.1%
Different TLDs	domain.link	Framer → framer.link Supabase → supabase.link Vercel → vercel.fyi Replicate → replicate.fyi	6.6%
Domain hacks	doma.in	Basedash → baseda.sh Inngest → innge.st Lugg → lu.gg Crowdin → crowd.in	1.9%

Option 1: Use a subdomain

This is the easiest option to get started with – especially since you don’t need to buy a new domain. Plus, using a subdomain is also better for ownership verification since users can be certain that the domain is owned by your entity (as opposed to a separate domain like company.tld).

For instance, if you’re using domain.com for your main website, you can use a subdomain like go.domain.com for your short links.

Some real-world examples of this are:

• Clerk → go.clerk.com
• Nuxt → go.nuxt.com
• Cal.com → go.cal.com
• Causal → go.causal.app

At the time of writing, 1,293 out of 4,024 verified domains on Dub use a subdomain for their short links – a 31% usage rate.

Option 2: Use a different TLD

Alternatively, you can use a different top-level domain (TLD) like .link or .fyi for your short links. With this option, you get to use a similar length domain – if not shorter – for your short links, with the trade-off being that you’ll need to scoop out a few extra dollars for the additional domain.

For example, if you’re using domain.com for your main website, you can use a TLD like domain.link for your short links.

Some real-world examples of this are:

• Framer → framer.link
• Supabase → supabase.link
• Vercel → vercel.fyi
• Replicate → replicate.fyi

At the time of writing, 266 out of 4,024 verified domains on Dub use a different TLD for their short links – a 6.6% usage rate.

If you’re on a Pro plan or higher, you can also claim a complimentary .link custom domain and use it as your short link domain.

Option 3: Use a domain hack

Last but not least, you can get creative with your short link domain by using a domain hack. This is a technique where you split your company name into two parts and use the first part as the domain and the second part as the top-level domain (TLD).

For example, if you’re using domain.com for your main website, you can use a domain hack like doma.in for your short links.

Some real-world examples of this are:

• Basedash → baseda.sh
• Inngest → innge.st
• Lugg → lu.gg
• Crowdin → crowd.in

At the time of writing, 78 out of 4,024 verified domains on Dub use a domain hack for their short links – a 1.9% usage rate.