Why You Need Password-Protected Links
Password-protected links provide an added layer of security that you may need when sharing specific types of content. For industries such as healthcare, telecommunications, and finance, privacy and security are extremely important. But whether you’re sharing sensitive information or providing exclusive access to a new product or promotional campaign, password-protected links are a powerful tool for safeguarding important or sensitive information.
We’re excited to share that Rebrandly now offers password-protected links starting from our Essentials plan.
Password-protected links will also be available as an add-on feature through Rebrandly On Demand for Professional plans and above. If you have any questions, reach out to support@rebrandly.com or book a demo here.
Use Cases for Password-Protected Links
Here are some of the most important use cases for password-protected links:
Marketing
Password protection is a powerful tool that allows you to create exclusive content accessible only to a specific audience, such as subscribers, members, or clients. This functionality can be advantageous for businesses, organizations, or creators who want to offer special privileges or restricted access to valuable resources. In other cases, you may simply want to restrict access to a page while it’s a work-in-progress, and remove the password protection when it is ready to be launched. Rebrandly also provides analytics and tracking features, allowing you to monitor who has clicked the link and when. This visibility can be particularly valuable for businesses and content creators who want to track engagement, measure the success of their campaigns, or gather data on user behavior.
Compliance
For some industries, such as healthcare, implementing password protection is crucial for ensuring that patients can only access their own medical information, thus maintaining privacy and complying with HIPAA regulations. Rebrandly also offers Link Redirects, where broken links will automatically be redirected to a live link. This functionality is important in businesses where deliverability is crucial for account notifications, and time-sensitive communications.
In the heavily regulated financial services industry, password-protected links offer a way to protect specific data and comply with local legislation and regulators. For example, a business may need to restrict access to certain material based on individual or group specifications such as geography, ensuring that content is only available to individuals in specific locations. By recognizing these unique requirements and utilizing password-protected links, businesses can safeguard sensitive data, meet compliance standards, and provide targeted access to valuable resources.
Avoiding Spam
Password protection helps to prevent unauthorized users or bots from crawling or indexing your company’s web pages. Password protection also helps protect against malicious activities, such as data scraping, content theft, or spamming. And when you combine password protection with Rebrandly, you’ll be able to shorten long spammy-looking links with your own branded links – and increase open rates with a link users can trust.
How to Create Password-Protected Links
It’s generally straightforward to set up a password on a branded link. You can get started once you’ve chosen a reliable link shortener service that offers password protection for links like Rebrandly. You can learn more about Rebrandly’s password-protected links here. As a reminder, make sure to test the link after it’s been created.
You can also password-protect web pages directly from your CMS. You can choose to make one URL or an entire folder password-protected.
Tips on Choosing Secure Passwords
Passwords don’t have to be so long that you’re always forgetting them, but it’s important to make sure they are secure. We recommend following these guidelines.
- Use a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters.
- Avoid using easily guessable information such as your name, birthdate, or common words.
- Use a unique password for each password-protected URL or page.
- Consider using a password manager tool to securely store and generate strong passwords.
- Do not use sequential characters (e.g., “1234”) or repeated characters (e.g., “aaaa”).
- Knowledge-based authentication (KBA), such as “What was the name of your first pet?”, should not be used.
- Passwords should not have hints.
Password-protected links are powerful tools that offer many mission-critical benefits. From safeguarding sensitive information and providing exclusive access to valuable content to enhancing security measures and simplifying link sharing, these practices contribute to a safer and more efficient online experience. By implementing password protection and leveraging link-shortening services, individuals and businesses can maintain privacy, control access, and ensure the integrity of their digital assets.
You can learn more about Rebrandly password-protected links here.
