Links & Redirection

Learn how GoLink handles URL shortening, custom slugs, vanity URLs, and high-speed redirection.

Links & Redirection

At its heart, GoLink provides a robust, low-latency redirection engine capable of resolving tens of thousands of redirect queries per second.

Anatomy of a Short Link

A GoLink shortened URL consists of two parts:

txt
https://go.golink.buzz / launch-2026
        ▲                     ▲
        │                     │
      Domain             Custom Slug

Domain: Defaults to go.golink.buzz, or any verified custom domain added to your organization (e.g., links.mybrand.com).
Slug: A unique alphanumeric key identifying the destination. If omitted during creation, GoLink automatically generates a random nanoid slug.

Supported URL Protocols

GoLink validates and supports the following protocols:

https:// (Recommended)
http://
mailto: (Direct email launch links)
tel: (Click-to-call mobile links)
Deep links (e.g. slack://, zoommtg://, market://)

Local addresses like localhost, internal private IPs (192.168.*, 10.*), and loopback addresses (127.0.0.1) are blocked by security validation in production.

Redirection Status Codes

When a user or crawler accesses a short link, GoLink returns an HTTP redirect header:

Status Code	Type	Behavior
302 Found	Temporary Redirect	Standard default redirect. Ensures every click hits GoLink edge proxy to log accurate click events and real-time metrics.
301 Moved Permanently	Permanent Redirect	Cached aggressively by client browsers. (Used when zero-latency is preferred over persistent analytics logs).

Link Lifecycle & States

You can toggle the status of any link at any time from the dashboard:

txt
┌──────────────┐      Toggle Off      ┌──────────────┐
│    Active    │ ───────────────────> │   Inactive   │
│  (302 Found) │ <─────────────────── │ (404/Paused) │
└──────────────┘      Toggle On       └──────────────┘

Active: The link operates normally, logging analytics and redirecting visitors to the target URL.
Inactive: The redirection engine serves a clean, user-friendly pause page (/link-inactive), indicating that the campaign has concluded.
Archived / Deleted: The short link is removed from routing tables and responds with /link-not-found.

Error Pages & Fallbacks

GoLink provides built-in branded error templates for redirection issues:

/link-not-found: Served when a requested slug does not exist on the given domain.
/link-inactive: Served when a link creator temporarily disabled the link.
/link-limit-reached: Served if an organization has exceeded its monthly quota limit.
/link-redirection-server-error: Fallback screen in case of unexpected infrastructure errors.

Last updated on October 20, 2026

Introduction