How do I send one short link to different places by device or country?
Use a smart link: one short link that routes each visitor to a different destination by device, country, language or time. How it works and how to set it up.
Shortlen Editorial · · 4 min read
The short answer
Use a smart link. You make one short link with a default destination, then add rules: send iPhone visitors to the App Store, visitors in Germany to your German page, and so on. The first rule that matches wins; everyone a rule doesn't match gets the default. Smart links are part of Shortlen's paid plans, and every destination is safety-checked.
Key points
- A smart link is one short link that points different people to different places, decided at the moment they click.
- You can route on device, operating system, browser, country, city, language, referrer, UTM tags, and the time or day of the week.
- Rules are checked in order and the first match wins, so put your most specific rules first and keep a sensible default for everyone else.
- You can try a pretend visitor with the built-in rule tester before you share the link — nothing is counted.
- Smart links are on Shortlen's paid plans; every destination a rule points to is scanned the same way a normal link is.
On this page
Yes — this is exactly what a smart link is for. Instead of one short link that sends everyone to the same page, a smart link looks at who is clicking and forwards each person to the destination you chose for them. The short link stays the same; only where it lands changes.
When a smart link is the right tool
Reach for one when the best destination depends on the visitor:
- An app with an iPhone and an Android version — send each phone to the right store, and desktops to a web page.
- Different pages per country or language — a visitor in France goes to your French page, everyone else to the default.
- A campaign that runs in several places — route by where the click came from, or only during the hours the offer is live.
If you instead want to compare two versions of the same page to see which performs better, that’s an A/B test, not a smart link — they’re separate tools that can be used together.
What you can route on
A smart link can decide using any of these, on their own or combined:
| Signal | Examples |
|---|---|
| Device and system | mobile, tablet or desktop; iOS, Android, Windows |
| Browser | the visitor’s browser |
| Place | country, region or city |
| Language | the visitor’s browser language |
| Source | the site or app the click came from, or its UTM tags |
| Time | the hour of day, the day of the week, or the weekend |
A single rule can combine several of these conditions, and a link can hold many rules.
How to set one up
- Create the link with a default destination. This is where anyone the rules don’t match will go, so pick the page that suits most people.
- Add your rules. For each one, choose the conditions (for example device is mobile and country is Germany) and the destination it should send matching visitors to.
- Put them in order. Rules are checked from the top and the first match wins, so place your most specific rules above the broader ones.
- Test a pretend visitor. Use the rule tester to describe a visitor and confirm the right rule fires, before anyone really clicks.
- Save and share the one short link. Every visitor now gets the destination meant for them, and your click analytics still record the whole picture.
A couple of things worth knowing
- Order matters. Because the first matching rule wins, a broad rule placed too high can catch visitors you meant for a more specific one. Read your rules top to bottom the way the link will.
- Keep a sensible default. The default destination is your safety net; make sure it’s a page that makes sense for someone none of your rules expected.
- Destinations are checked. Each place a rule points to is scanned against threat databases, the same as a normal link, so routing never quietly sends people somewhere unsafe.
Smart links are part of the paid plans — see the features page for the other routing tools, and pricing for which plan includes them. When you’re ready, start free and upgrade when you need to route.
Questions people ask
What happens to visitors that no rule matches?
They go to the link's default destination. A smart link always has a normal destination as its fallback, so there's never a dead end — the rules only send specific visitors somewhere else.
Does routing slow the link down?
The decision happens in the redirect itself, so visitors are forwarded without a visible delay. You can set the redirect type on the link, and smart links work alongside your analytics and QR codes.
Can I test it before I share it?
Yes. The rule tester lets you describe a pretend visitor — device, browser, country, language, time — and shows which rule would match, without recording a click. Test the important cases before the link goes out.
Which plan includes smart links?
Smart links are part of Shortlen's paid plans. The pricing page shows which plan has them, alongside the other routing tools like A/B tests.