.link is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) available to anyone. Its name makes the purpose obvious: pages whose main job is to send visitors somewhere else. That makes it a natural fit for a few specific uses — and a questionable one for others.
Good uses for .link
- Link-in-bio pages — one page with all your social profiles, shop and newsletter (e.g.
yourname.link). A self-hosted alternative to hosted link-in-bio services. - Short links — a branded URL shortener (
brand.link/offer) for campaigns, print and QR codes. - Resource hubs — curated lists of tools or links for a community.
- Redirect domains — memorable addresses that forward to a longer main site.
Pros
- Descriptive and memorable for link-focused pages.
- Availability — short names that are long gone in .com may still be free.
- No technical limitations — works like any other domain for web, DNS and HTTPS.
Cons and things to check
- Trust and spam reputation. Newer gTLDs are sometimes associated with spam and phishing. Some email filters and security tools score unfamiliar TLDs more strictly. Avoid using a .link domain as your main email domain.
- Renewal price. Many new gTLDs have higher renewal prices than the first year. Check renewal, not just registration.
- User expectations. For a main business website, most visitors still type
.com(or a country domain) by habit. - SEO. Google treats generic TLDs equally for ranking — a .link domain neither helps nor hurts by itself. Content and links matter. For country targeting, a country-code TLD sends a stronger local signal.
Self-hosting a link page or short-link service
Owning the domain is half the story; hosting it yourself gives you control and analytics without a third-party platform.
A static link-in-bio page — a single HTML file served by Nginx. Even the smallest VPS handles huge traffic for static pages:
server {
server_name yourname.link;
root /var/www/yourname.link;
index index.html;
}A self-hosted URL shortener — open-source projects such as YOURLS (PHP/MySQL), Shlink (PHP, Docker) or Kutt (Node.js) give you branded short links with click statistics. Run one in Docker behind Nginx with HTTPS — see Nginx reverse proxy for Docker containers.
Protect shorteners from abuse: disable public link creation, require authentication, and monitor for phishing links if others can create them.
Choosing a domain for a link project
| Need | Suggested |
|---|---|
| Personal link-in-bio | name.link, name.bio, name.me |
| Company short links | A short brand domain (brnd.co, brand.link) |
| Main company website | .com or your country domain |
| Company email | Your main domain, never the short-link domain |
Summary
A .link domain is a good, descriptive choice for link pages and short links, as long as you keep email and your main brand on a trusted domain and check renewal costs. Host the page or shortener yourself on a small KVM VPS for full control. More on site structure: SEO-friendly URLs.