How do I keep a short link working if its destination goes down?
A short link is only as good as the page it points to. How monitoring watches a destination, alerts you when it breaks, and can fail over to a backup URL.
Shortlen Editorial · · 3 min read
The short answer
Turn on monitoring for the link. Shortlen's Link Guardian checks the destination on a schedule, opens an incident and alerts you if it breaks, and — if you've set a backup URL — can send visitors to the backup until the original recovers, without changing the link itself. Monitoring is part of the paid plans.
Key points
- A short link keeps resolving even when the page it points to is down — so the link can look fine while visitors hit an error.
- Monitoring checks the destination on a schedule and opens an incident only after repeated failures, so a single blip doesn't page you.
- You can set a backup URL and fail over to it — by hand or automatically — without changing the link, and it switches back when the original recovers.
- Alerts go to you by email and, if you want, to a Slack-compatible channel, with escalation if nobody acknowledges.
- Monitoring is part of Shortlen's paid plans; the number of links you can monitor depends on the plan.
On this page
A short link keeps working even when the page behind it doesn’t. Because the link only forwards people on, it answers normally right up until the moment the destination fails — so the link can look perfectly healthy while your visitors are hitting an error. Monitoring closes that gap by watching the destination, not just the link.
What monitoring actually watches
Shortlen’s Link Guardian checks a monitored link’s destination on a regular schedule and looks for the things that quietly break a campaign:
- an error response or a timeout,
- a domain that no longer resolves,
- an SSL or certificate problem,
- a redirect loop, or a destination pointing somewhere it shouldn’t.
A single failed check doesn’t raise the alarm — an incident opens only after repeated failures in a row, and closes again after the destination passes a couple of checks, so you’re not paged for a momentary blip. A slow or automated-check-blocking response is noted as a warning rather than counted as an outage.
Getting told when something breaks
When an incident opens, you’re alerted by email, and you can add a Slack-compatible channel and extra recipients. If nobody acknowledges an incident, it can escalate to more people after a delay you set — so a broken link at the wrong hour doesn’t sit unnoticed.
Failover: keep visitors moving
For links that can’t afford downtime, set a backup URL. You can fail over to it by hand when an incident opens, or let auto-failover switch over on its own and switch back once the original recovers. Either way:
- the link’s real destination isn’t changed — visitors are just sent to the backup for now;
- the switch is recorded in the link’s history;
- the backup is safety-scanned, the same as any destination.
How to set it up
- Turn on monitoring for the link in Link Guardian.
- Add a backup URL if you want failover, and choose manual or automatic.
- Set your alerts — who’s emailed, any Slack channel, and whether to escalate.
- Leave it running. You’ll see each monitor’s recent health, and a badge tells you at a glance how many links are down.
Monitoring is part of the paid plans — see the features page for the other ways Shortlen keeps links healthy, and pricing for how many links each plan can watch.
Questions people ask
Why would a short link 'work' when the destination is down?
The short link just forwards people on, so it responds normally — the failure is one step later, at the destination. That's exactly why monitoring the destination matters: the link can look healthy while visitors land on an error page.
What counts as 'down'?
An error response, a timeout, a domain that no longer resolves, an SSL problem, a redirect loop, or a destination that points to a non-public address. A slow or bot-blocking response is flagged as a warning rather than treated as an outage.
Does it change my link when it fails over?
No. Failover sends visitors to a backup URL you chose while the original is down, and it's recorded in the link's history; the link's real destination is left as-is and restored automatically once the original recovers.
How many links can I monitor?
Monitoring is part of the paid plans, and how many links you can watch depends on the plan. The pricing page shows the monitored-link allowance for each one.