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Sometimes, people will try to go directly to your custom domain, or they will make a mistake typing a link you've shared. Set up Root Domain and Invalid Address landing pages to direct them back to your content and prevent them from seeing a Bitly 404 error page.
The Root domain URL is the address a visitor will be directed to if they enter only your custom domain.
Let's say you have a music business and your website is erigbymusicstars.com, and you're using the custom domain erigby.com to customize links. If a visitor enters only erigby.com into their browser, you can direct them to erigbymusicstars.com with the Root domain URL setting.
The Invalid address URL setting works the same way but is used when someone enters your custom domain and makes a mistake with the rest of the web address (the back-half).
So, if the only short link your music business has created is erigby.com/ricedream, and someone enters erigby.com/peopledream, they would usually see a Bitly error page. Instead, you could direct all invalid addresses to another website address. This could be any page on your site, even your own error page..
To set up the Root Domain URL:
- Click the profile menu and select Settings.
- Click Custom Domains.
- Click on the "Manage" icon that is present in the right hand corner of the custom domain box
- Enter the full addresses where you would like visitors to be directed for the Root Domain URL and Invalid Address URL. It's fine if this is the same URL.
- Once the URL's have been entered select "Save Changes" for each entry.
Now your account is set up to redirect to your landing pages.
Keep these things in mind as you choose and set up a custom domain:
- The domain for your short links must be different than your website domain.
- It can't be more than 32 characters long, including the dot.
- If you don't have one yet, Bitly offers a complimentary domain.