How do routing rules, A/B tests and link previews work?

Routing rules: send people to different places

Turn on Dynamic routing and click Add rule. Each rule is one row with its own destination and any combination of conditions:

• Device — Any device, Mobile, Tablet or Desktop.
• OS — Any OS, iOS, Android, Windows or macOS.
• Countries — two-letter codes, comma separated: IN, US.
• Regions and Cities — free text, comma separated: CA, NY or Mumbai.
• Languages — two or three letter browser language codes: en, es.

A rule needs at least one condition and a destination URL. Rules run in the order you list them and the first match wins — so put the narrowest rule at the top. Anyone who matches nothing goes to the main Destination URL. A link can hold at most 10 rules.

A/B testing: split traffic between destinations

Turn on A/B testing and add up to 3 variants, each with a destination and a weight in percent. Weights must be whole numbers between 5 and 90 and may add up to at most 90%, because the main destination always keeps the remainder. Two variants at 30% each means 30/30/40 with the main destination taking the 40.

Routing always beats the split: if a visitor matches a routing rule they go there and never enter the test. Everyone else is assigned by weight.

There is no automatic winner and no in-product significance test. Give each variant its own UTM values or its own landing page so you can tell the results apart in your analytics.

Custom link previews and cloaking

Turn on Custom link preview to control the card people see when the short link is pasted into a chat app or a social post. You can set:

• Preview title — up to 120 characters.
• Preview description — up to 240 characters.
• Preview image URL — a public image, 1200x630 works best.

When any of these is set, preview crawlers get a page carrying your card instead of being bounced to the destination, and those fetches are never counted as clicks.

Link cloaking is the switch underneath. With it on, the destination is rendered inside a frame so the short URL stays in the address bar. Some sites refuse to be framed and will appear blank, so test it before you share it, and do not use it on a page that needs a sign-in.

Mobile deep links

Mobile deep link is the last block on the panel. Give it an iOS app URI, an Android app URI, and a fallback URL for each (usually the store listing). Mobile visitors get the app when it is installed and the fallback when it is not; desktop visitors follow the normal destination. Visitors briefly see an interstitial reading "Opening the app..." with a Continue in browser link underneath.

Deferred deep link is the extra switch below it: the click is remembered so your app can claim it after installation.

Which plan has what

The trial is deliberately uneven: it includes previews and A/B testing so you can see them, but not routing. The labels on the form read "(Pro+)" and "(Business)" and do not account for that, so trust the table above.

Common problems

The wrong rule is firing

Rules are evaluated top to bottom and stop at the first match. A rule with only Mobile set above a rule for Mobile plus India will swallow every mobile visitor. Move the specific rule above the general one.

My country rule never matches

Use two-letter country codes, not names — DE, not Germany. City and region matching depends on what we can resolve from the visitor's connection, so a rule on a large city is more reliable than one on a small town.

The A/B split looks uneven

Weights are applied per visit, so small numbers of clicks look lopsided. Also remember the main destination silently keeps whatever the variants do not claim.

The old preview keeps showing

Chat apps and social networks cache preview cards, sometimes for days. Test with a fresh back-half rather than re-pasting the same link.

Frequently asked questions