Editing Short URL Destination Links: Why it’s So Important
Editing Short URL Destination Links is much more important than you might realise. In our digital lives, we’re likely to share upwards of 90K links!!! What we might be not be thinking about is how to control those links once we share them.
If you are sharing via email, blog posts, Facebook or Twitter in most cases, you share a link but might not realise you can’t always edit, redirect or delete it!
It’s possible to edit the destination of your short URL link (or Branded Links), and doing so creates many opportunities including saving money on promotional campaigns and even optimising your sharing. It also creates a safety net in case of errors, allowing you to change the landing page after a link has been created and shared.
Tip: create short links in seconds with this free URL shortener online service
Editing a short URL Destination Link
Editing a short URL’s destination means you can take a short URL you previously created and change the destination that link brings you to.
For example, Rebrandly.blog/NewPost could be changed every Tuesday to bring users to our latest blog post. The link will remain the same, but the destination could change weekly.
Just a few platforms let you do this, Rebrandly is one of those 
Now you can control where your link is linking to at all times!
Why do we think this is so important?
We know control is important to people who share links because our own users regularly ask Rebrandly a variation of the questions like:
Can I edit links on an old Facebook post?
Can I the destination of a URL after a certain period of time?
Can I change a link once I’ve shared it?
Can I change the destination of a short link to another URL destination?
Is it possible to Edit a short URL Destination link?
The answer to all is YES!!!
There are SEVERAL reasons you might need to edit a short URL destination link. Here are just a few examples:
Instagram Bio-Link
If you use Instagram you’ll know that you can only include one link in your bio. You may have also noticed this is the only place you can share a clickable link. This makes the one link you share even more important!
Instead of continuously changing the link in your bio, you can keep a short branded URL and merely edit the short URL destination.
By doing this you could share:
Rebrandly.Link/Promotion to link to a promotional post
OR
Rebrandly.Blog/NewPost to your newest blog posts.
Learn how to do this: Edit and Brand Instagram Bio-Link
T-Shirt QR Codes Redirection
Have you seen people at events wearing t-shirts with QR codes? Or snazzy businessmen with them on their cards? Those t-shirts and cards will bring you directly to a chosen destination.
If you have a QR code you can change that destination by editing a short URL destination link to another page or site.
This means you can link people to your website for a big event and then if you go to a networking event you could have the QR code linking to your LinkedIn account.
So no need to make a new t-shirt for every campaign. Simple update your Link!
Promotion on Billboards – Promotion Finishes
If you’ve made a major investment in advertisements or billboards that include a QR code or branded link but that particular promotion has come to an end, you still have options for that link.
You can redirect the link to another location for example saying:
“Our summer promotion has come to an end, however, we have just launched three new domain names at 30% off”
OR
You can set when your link expires which means the link will no longer go to the promotional opportunity.
Our customers are already using this simple trick:
Read more about this: Branded links opportunities for offline marketing
Email Error!
If you are writing an email and include a link but you accidentally linked the link you created to the wrong site.
You could send a new email pointing out your mistake and send a new link
OR
Update the destination of your link and no one will suspect a thing 
Updating your website
We received this message from one of our users.
Businesses very regularly have to update and tweet their websites. This should not mean that every link you have shared up until that point is now irrelevant. Simply redirect your short links to your new website.
OH NO, Where is my Page?
Maybe has been replaced, deleted or the company has gone out of business… This means now when people click on your link an error message is being displayed.
No need to panic! This can be changed – you’re in control 
A simple way to fix this is to redirect your short link to another destination. You keep your beautiful branded link.
Link Parameters (including UTMs)
If you’re thinking what the heck is a UTM Parameter, that’s ok. They’re very important to Digital Marketers so control of them is vital!
If you have shared a link and you realise that you have not installed the UTM parameters to track who is clicking on your page.
You will not need to create a new link
All you have to do is go to your link and use the Rebrandly UTM builder.
Read a full how-to guide here: How to use Rebrandly UTM builder
How do you do it?
There are only a few sites that will let you do this, and you can do it easily with Rebrandly
Follow the steps below –
- Go to Rebrandly.com
- Search for the URL you need to change or edit
- Click the three dots at the end that will say ‘more’ when you hover above it
- Click the pencil icon and edit
- Then save
For a more detailed guide you can check out these articles in our FAQ section:
We would love to hear from you. Tweet us and tell us a time you had to change your URL’s destination:
Further reading:
- How to shorten a long URL
- Custom URL structure: How to create branded links
- Best URL Shorteners and how to choose the right one
- Best Bitly alternative
- Best TinyURL alternative
This article is about:
- Branded Links
- Updating your URL destinations
- Changing Branded Links
- Update that short link later with a different URL
- How to change your URL’s destination
- Issue with Links
- Downfall of shortening links
- Changing my URL
- Edit Target URL
- Edit short URL links
Originally Posted: March 8th, 2017.
Post Updated: July 20th, 2020.
