Linkkit Team
Building the future of link management and analytics.
You paste a URL. You get a short link. Someone clicks it. Your dashboard shows a click from London, on an iPhone, at 3:47pm.
That all happens in under a second. But there's a lot going on behind the scenes to make it work that cleanly. This post walks through exactly what happens — from the moment you create a short link to the moment analytics data appears in your dashboard.
No jargon. No unnecessary complexity. Just a clear explanation of how the whole thing works.
Step 1 — You create a short link
When you paste a URL into Linkkit and hit create, a few things happen simultaneously:
Your original URL is stored securely in Linkkit's database.
A unique short code is generated — a short string of characters that acts as the identifier for your link.
Your branded domain (if you've set one up) is attached to that short code.
The full short link — for example, yourbrand.link/abcd12 or yourbrand.link/summer-sale — is created and handed back to you.
If you've set a custom slug — like /summer-sale instead of a random code — Linkkit checks that it's unique within your account and domain, then assigns it directly.
The whole process takes less than a second.
Step 2 — Someone clicks your link
When someone clicks yourbrand.link/summer-sale, their browser sends a request to Linkkit's servers. Here's what happens in that moment:
Linkkit receives the request.
The server looks up the short code in the database and finds the original destination URL you stored when you created the link.
Analytics data is captured.
Before the redirect happens, Linkkit records: the approximate location of the click (country and city, derived from the IP address), the device and browser type (from the user agent string in the request), the referrer (the page or app the visitor was on when they clicked), and the exact time of the click.
A 301 redirect is sent.
Linkkit responds to the browser with a 301 permanent redirect — an HTTP instruction that says 'the real destination is here.' The browser follows that instruction and loads your original page.
The visitor lands on your page.
The whole process — from click to landing page — takes milliseconds. The visitor never sees or notices the redirect.
Why we use 301 redirects (And why it matters)
There are two types of redirects: 301 (permanent) and 302 (temporary). The difference matters for SEO.
A 301 redirect tells search engines that the destination URL is the real, permanent target. Link authority passes correctly to your destination page. Your SEO is not harmed.
A 302 redirect tells search engines the redirect is temporary. Link authority doesn't pass the same way. Some lower-quality shorteners use 302 redirects by default — often without telling you.
Linkkit uses 301 redirects on every link. Your SEO is always protected.
Step 3 — Analytics appear in your dashboard
The click data captured in Step 2 is processed and added to your Linkkit analytics dashboard in real time. Within seconds of a click happening, you can see:
The total click count for that link — updated live
A geographic map showing where clicks came from
A device breakdown — mobile vs desktop vs tablet
Referrer data — which platform or source sent the click
A time-based chart — showing click patterns by hour and day
All of this happens automatically. There's no setup, no integrations, no code to add to your website. You create a link. Linkkit handles the rest.
How QR codes fit in
When you create a short link in Linkkit, a QR code is generated automatically at the same time.
The QR code encodes the short link URL — not the original long URL. This is what makes it dynamic. If you update where the link points, the QR code automatically points to the new destination too. You never have to reprint.
When someone scans the QR code, the same process described above happens — Linkkit receives the request, captures analytics, and sends the redirect. Every scan shows up in your analytics as a click. Same data. Same dashboard.
How branded domains work
By default, short links use Linkkit's own domain. But if you've connected your own custom domain — which takes under five minutes and works on the free plan — your links use your brand name instead.
Behind the scenes, your domain is configured to point to Linkkit's servers through a DNS record. When someone clicks a link on your branded domain, the request reaches Linkkit's infrastructure the same way as any other link. The analytics, the redirect, the QR code — everything works identically. The only difference is the domain name in the URL.
The simple version
If you didn't want the full technical breakdown, here's the short version:
You create a link — Linkkit stores it and generates a short URL
Someone clicks — Linkkit captures the click data and redirects them to your page in milliseconds
The data appears in your dashboard — location, device, referrer, time — all automatically
