What it does
Turns long, ugly URLs into short, brandable links you can share anywhere — email, social, slide decks, print, QR codes. Every short link tracks clicks in detail, so you can see how many people clicked, where they're coming from, which device they used, and which campaign drove traffic.
Who can use it
- Anyone in your organization with read permission for the URL Shortener module.
- Creating and deleting links needs the matching permission. Without it, the create form and Delete buttons are disabled.
Where to find it
From the sidebar, open Marketing and click URL Shortener.
Create a short URL
- On the URL Shortener page, find the short-link form just below the intro section.
- In Enter your long URL, paste the full URL you want to shorten — for example,
https://example.com/blog/very/long/path?utm=2026-launch. - (Optional) In Custom slug (optional), type a short, memorable alias — for example,
spring-launch. Leave it blank to get a random slug. - Click Shorten. The new short link appears in Your URLs below.
If the slug you picked is already in use, Nautis will let you know — pick a different one.
Add UTM tracking parameters
UTM parameters let you tag a link so your analytics tools (Google Analytics, etc.) know where the traffic came from.
- In the form, tick Add UTM parameters to URL.
- The UTM dialog opens. Fill in:
- UTM Source (required) — for example,
newsletter,twitter,google. - UTM Medium (required) — for example,
email,social,cpc. - UTM Campaign (required) — for example,
spring-launch,black-friday. - UTM Content (optional) — any call-to-action or headline, for example
buy-now. - UTM Term (optional) — keywords, for paid search campaigns.
- UTM Source (required) — for example,
- Click Apply. Nautis adds
?utm_source=...&utm_medium=...to your long URL automatically. - To change them later, click Edit next to the checkbox.
When you click Shorten, the short link redirects to the tagged URL — so your analytics will see exactly which campaign drove each click.
Read click analytics
- Find your link in Your URLs and click Analytics.
- The dialog shows:
- Total Clicks and Human Clicks — total visits and bot-filtered visits, with a percentage change versus the previous period.
- A click chart plotting visits over time.
- Referrer — which sites sent traffic.
- Social — which social networks drove visits.
- Browser, OS, Country, and City breakdowns of who clicked.
Use these to figure out which channel performs best and where to spend more time.
Delete a link
- In Your URLs, click the red Delete button on the link's row.
- In the confirmation dialog, click Delete again to confirm.
Once deleted, the short URL stops redirecting — anyone who has the old link will get an error.
Tips & limits
- Your plan caps how many short URLs you can create. When you hit the limit, a "URL Limit Reached" modal appears. Upgrade your plan to add more.
- Custom slugs must be unique across your organization. Short, hyphen-separated names work best.
- UTM parameters are case-sensitive —
twitterandTwittercount as different sources in most analytics tools. Stick to lowercase. - QR codes work best when printed at least 2 cm × 2 cm. The download is a sharp PNG.
- If you change your mind on the UTM tags, click Edit next to the checkbox before shortening — you can't change a UTM after the short URL is created. Delete the link and create a new one instead.
- The Your URLs list is paginated. Use the Previous / Next buttons to walk through older links.
Frequently asked questions
What happens if someone uses my short link after I delete it?
They'll see an error page. Don't delete a link that's actively in use.
Can I edit a slug after creating it?
No. Delete the link and create a new one with the new slug.
How long do short URLs last?
They don't expire by default. They keep working as long as the link exists in Your URLs.
Can I track who clicked my link?
The analytics dialog shows aggregate data — browser, OS, country, city, referrer, and social network. It doesn't show individual names or emails; those aren't captured by short links.
Why are "Total Clicks" and "Human Clicks" different?
"Total Clicks" includes everything — bots, crawlers, link-checkers, and humans. "Human Clicks" filters out the bots so you see real audience numbers.
Can I make a QR code without creating a short URL?
Not from this page. Create the short link first, then click QR Code to download the QR.
Will the same long URL always make the same short URL?
No. Each time you shorten, you get a new short URL (unless you pick the same custom slug — and the slug must be unique, so duplicates are blocked).
Still need help?
Our team answers every message. Already a customer? Open a support ticket from inside Nautis.