YouTube URLs are long, ugly, and give you no idea how many people clicked. Shortening one gets you a clean, branded link you can track. Here's how.
youtu.be isn't a real shortener
YouTube's own youtu.be/VIDEO_ID is shorter, but it's not branded and gives you no click analytics. To brand and track the link, use a URL shortener.
How to shorten a YouTube link
- Copy the full video URL (or the
youtu.beone). - Paste it into lynkily and shorten it — optionally with a custom, branded slug.
- Share the short link anywhere; open analytics to see clicks by time, location and device.
Keep a timestamp or playlist
Want the video to start at a specific time? Add ?t=90 (90 seconds) to the URL before you shorten it — the short link carries it through. Same for playlist parameters.
Add campaign tracking
Putting the link in an email or bio? Add UTM parameters so YouTube clicks show up correctly in your analytics — build them with the free UTM builder. And turn the link into a YouTube QR code for print.