Custom Domains

Overview

GrowQR Custom Domains lets you replace the default platform domain with your own branded domain for every short link you create. Instead of sharing growqr.io/abc123, you share promo.client.com/sale — a link that reinforces your brand, builds trust with recipients, and increases click-through rates by 30–40%.

Custom domains work by pointing your DNS to our redirect infrastructure via a CNAME record. Once configured, every request to your domain (e.g. promo.client.com/sale) is handled by GrowQR's backend, which resolves the slug, logs the click, and redirects the visitor to the destination URL.

What Problem It Solves

Generic short link domains look suspicious to recipients and are frequently blocked by corporate firewalls and spam filters. When a recipient sees an unfamiliar domain, they hesitate to click — or don't click at all. Branded domains solve this by tying every link back to a domain the recipient already recognizes and trusts.

Beyond trust, custom domains provide brand consistency across every marketing channel and full portability — your links live on your domain, so you're never locked in.

How It Works

When you add a custom domain to GrowQR, you're telling the platform to handle redirect traffic for that domain. The architecture is straightforward:

DNS Routing

You add a CNAME record so your domain points to GrowQR's redirect infrastructure:

Type:   CNAME
Name:   promo          (your chosen subdomain)
Value:  redirect.yourplatform.com   (provided in the dashboard)

Now all requests to promo.client.com route to our servers.

Request Resolution

When a visitor hits promo.client.com/sale:

1. DNS resolves — promo.client.com → your platform via CNAME
2. Backend receives the request with Host: promo.client.com and path /sale
3. Domain lookup — the system finds the verified domain matching promo.client.com
4. Slug resolution — looks up the URL entry where domainId = <domain> and shortCode = sale
5. Redirect — logs the click and issues a 302 redirect to https://nike.com/sale

Database Model

Each short link is associated with a domain. The system uses a composite lookup of domain + slug to resolve the destination:

This means the same slug (e.g. sale) can exist on different domains without conflict.

Step-by-Step Usage

Adding a Custom Domain

1. Navigate to Dashboard → Domains.
2. Enter your desired domain (e.g. promo.client.com or go.yourcompany.com).
3. Click Add Domain.

The dashboard will display your DNS configuration instructions.

Configuring DNS (CNAME Record)

Add a CNAME record through your DNS provider (Cloudflare, Route 53, GoDaddy, Namecheap, etc.):

Type:   CNAME
Name:   promo          (your subdomain — the part before your root domain)
Value:  redirect.yourplatform.com   (shown in the dashboard)
TTL:    3600           (or Auto)

Example: If your domain is promo.client.com:

After saving the DNS record, return to the GrowQR dashboard.

Verifying the Domain

1. Click Verify next to the domain.
2. The system checks DNS records using three methods (in order): TXT, CNAME, and A record.
3. If any method confirms your ownership, the domain is marked as Verified.

DNS propagation typically completes within minutes but can take up to 48 hours depending on your provider and TTL settings. If verification fails, wait a few minutes and try again.

Alternative Verification Methods

If CNAME doesn't work for your setup, you can also verify using:

• TXT Record — Add a TXT record with the verification token shown in the dashboard.
• A Record — Point your domain to the platform's IP address.

The dashboard shows all options in a collapsible section.

Creating Links with a Custom Domain

Once your domain is verified:

1. Go to Links → New Link.
2. Fill in the destination URL.
3. Select your custom domain from the Custom Domain dropdown.
4. Set a custom alias (e.g. sale) — this becomes the slug in promo.client.com/sale.
5. Click Create Link.

The resulting short URL is https://promo.client.com/sale and resolves through GrowQR's redirect infrastructure.

Bulk Creating Links with a Custom Domain

1. Go to Links → Bulk Create.
2. Upload a CSV with columns: destination_url, alias (optional), title (optional).
3. Review the preview table — the system validates each row for URL format, alias conflicts, and duplicates.
4. Select your custom domain from the dropdown (applies to all links in the batch).
5. Click Create All.

Removing a Domain

1. Navigate to Dashboard → Domains.
2. Click the delete icon next to the domain.
3. Confirm the removal.

Important: Links created on this domain will continue to exist in the database but will stop resolving once the DNS record is removed. Consider migrating links to another domain before removal.

Best Practices

• Use a dedicated subdomain like go., link., promo., or l. rather than your apex domain. Subdomains are trivial to set up with CNAME and don't interfere with your main website.
• Keep the subdomain short. Every character counts. go.co.com/sale is better than marketing-links.company.com/sale.
• Don't proxy through Cloudflare. GrowQR needs to receive traffic directly. If you use Cloudflare, set the CNAME record to DNS only (gray cloud icon).
• Use descriptive slugs. With custom domains, you control the full URL — make it memorable: promo.brand.com/summer-sale instead of promo.brand.com/x7kQ.
• One domain per brand. If you operate multiple brands, add a separate domain for each (go.brand-a.com, link.brand-b.com) so every link reinforces the correct brand.
• Test before launch. After DNS verification, create a test link and click it from an incognito browser to confirm the full flow works.

Example Workflows

E-commerce Brand with Custom Domain

1. Register promo.mystore.com and add it to GrowQR.
2. Add CNAME: promo → redirect.yourplatform.com.
3. Verify the domain in the dashboard.
4. Create campaign links:
   • promo.mystore.com/summer-sale → https://mystore.com/collections/summer
   • promo.mystore.com/vip → https://mystore.com/vip-access
   • promo.mystore.com/reviews → https://mystore.com/customer-reviews
5. Use these branded links on social media, email campaigns, and printed materials.
6. Track click performance per-link in the analytics dashboard.

Multi-Brand Organization

1. Your company operates three brands:
   • go.brand-a.com — consumer products
   • link.brand-b.com — enterprise software
   • l.brand-c.com — internal tools
2. Add all three domains to GrowQR and verify each with CNAME records.
3. When creating links, select the appropriate domain from the dropdown to match the brand context.
4. Analytics are unified in the workspace dashboard — compare performance across brands while each maintains its own link identity.

Agency Managing Client Domains

1. For each client, add their custom domain: go.clientname.com.
2. Walk the client through adding a CNAME record pointing to your platform.
3. Once verified, create all campaign links under the client's domain.
4. The client sees their own branded links while you manage everything from a single GrowQR workspace.

Event or Conference

1. Set up link.event2026.com for a conference.
2. Create memorable slugs: link.event2026.com/schedule, link.event2026.com/map, link.event2026.com/wifi.
3. Print these on badges, banners, and handouts.
4. Track which links get the most engagement during the event.
5. After the event, export analytics for the post-event report.