How to Connect a Custom Domain to UniLink (Point Your Domain to Your Page)

Use a domain you already own — or buy a new one — to replace the default unil.ink URL with your own branded address.

Your default UniLink URL looks like unil.ink/yourname. That works, but a custom domain — like yourname.com or shop.yourbrand.com — sends a different signal to visitors. It tells them they are on your turf, not a third-party platform. It reinforces brand trust, makes your link-in-bio easier to remember and share verbally, and improves how it appears in social media bios where the full URL is visible. Setting up a custom domain in UniLink takes less time than most people expect, and the platform handles the HTTPS certificate automatically so you never need to deal with SSL manually.

What Custom Domain Setup Does

Connecting a custom domain in UniLink makes your page accessible at a URL you own — for example mybrand.com or links.mybrand.com — instead of the default unil.ink/username path. When someone visits your custom domain, UniLink's infrastructure receives the request and serves your page exactly as it would from the default URL. To the visitor, the experience is completely seamless: the page content, blocks, and links all behave identically. The only difference is the address in their browser bar.

The technical mechanism that makes this work is a DNS record called a CNAME (Canonical Name record). You add this record in your domain registrar's settings — the place where you manage your domain, such as GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare, or Google Domains. The CNAME record tells the global DNS system that requests for your domain should be routed to UniLink's servers. Once that record propagates, UniLink detects the connection and issues a free SSL/TLS certificate through Let's Encrypt so your domain is always served securely over HTTPS. Most registrars also allow an apex domain (the root without a subdomain, like mybrand.com) to be connected using a special ALIAS or ANAME record, which UniLink also supports.

You can connect multiple domains to one UniLink account and designate one as the primary. The primary domain is what visitors see in their browser and what is used in link shortening and sharing previews. Non-primary connected domains redirect to the primary automatically.

How to Get Started With Custom Domains

1. Open domain settings — In your UniLink dashboard, click your profile icon at the top right, then go to Settings → Domains. This is where all domain connections for your account are managed.
2. Enter your domain — Click "Add Domain" and type the domain you want to connect. You can enter either a subdomain (links.yourbrand.com) or an apex domain (yourbrand.com). Include the full domain without http:// or https://.
3. Copy the DNS record — UniLink displays the exact DNS record you need to add. For subdomains, this will be a CNAME record pointing to a UniLink hostname. For apex domains, it may be an A record or ALIAS record depending on what your registrar supports. Copy the target value exactly.
4. Log in to your domain registrar — Open a new browser tab and sign in to the platform where you purchased or manage your domain. This is usually GoDaddy, Namecheap, Google Domains, Cloudflare, or your hosting provider's control panel.
5. Add the DNS record — Navigate to the DNS management section for your domain. Add a new record matching what UniLink provided: set the Type (CNAME or A), enter the Name/Host value (the subdomain part, or @ for apex), and paste the Target/Value from UniLink. Save the record.
6. Wait for DNS propagation — Return to UniLink's domain settings and click "Verify". DNS changes typically propagate globally within 15–60 minutes, though some registrars can take up to 48 hours. If verification fails immediately, wait 30 minutes and try again.
7. Set as primary and confirm SSL — Once verified, click "Set as Primary" next to the domain. UniLink provisions the SSL certificate automatically within a few minutes. You will see a green padlock status when HTTPS is active and the domain is fully operational.

How to Use Custom Domains

1. Test the connection in a browser — Open a private/incognito window and visit your custom domain. You should see your UniLink page load with a padlock in the address bar indicating HTTPS. If you see a certificate warning, wait a few minutes — SSL provisioning sometimes takes 5–10 minutes after verification.
2. Update your social media bios — Replace your unil.ink/username link in Instagram, TikTok, Twitter/X, YouTube, and any other profiles with the new custom domain. The custom domain is the whole point — make sure it is visible everywhere your audience sees your profile.
3. Add a redirect from the old URL — Your original unil.ink/username URL continues to work and automatically redirects visitors to your custom domain once it is set as primary. You do not need to update links that are already out in the world pointing to your unil.ink URL.
4. Connect additional domains (optional) — If you own multiple domains for the same brand (for example the .com, .co, and .io variants), add all of them in Settings → Domains. Set the one you use most prominently as primary, and the others will 301 redirect to it automatically.
5. Renew DNS records when they expire — Domain registrars do not notify UniLink about domain renewals. If your domain registration lapses, the DNS records disappear and your custom domain will stop working. Keep your domain registration active through auto-renewal at your registrar.
6. Transfer your domain registrar without losing the connection — If you move your domain to a different registrar (for example from GoDaddy to Cloudflare), you will need to re-add the CNAME/A record at the new registrar after the transfer completes. The UniLink domain connection itself does not need to be reconfigured.
7. Remove a domain you no longer need — In Settings → Domains, click the three-dot menu next to any domain and select "Remove". This does not affect the domain's registration — it only disconnects it from UniLink. Make sure to delete the DNS record at your registrar afterward to avoid dangling DNS entries.

Key Settings Explained

How to Get the Most Out of Custom Domains

A custom domain is most powerful when it matches the name people already know. If your brand is consistent across Instagram, your website, and your email, the domain should be the same root — yourname.com or yourbrand.com. Subdomains like links.yourbrand.com work well when you already have a website at the apex domain and want to keep the link-in-bio as a distinct destination without conflicting with your existing site's DNS records. The subdomain approach also gives you the most DNS flexibility, since CNAME records at the apex can conflict with other records like MX (email) entries.

Once your custom domain is live, it acts as the canonical URL for your page in search engines. If you have content on your page that you want indexed — a blog, product listings, portfolio items — the custom domain is what will appear in search results rather than unil.ink. This is particularly valuable for creators and businesses whose link-in-bio page functions as their primary web presence. Make sure your page title, description, and Open Graph settings reflect your brand name now that the URL is fully yours.

Keep your domain registration managed carefully. Many domain connection problems are caused by expired registrations or accidental deletion of DNS records during a registrar migration. Set auto-renewal on your domain and add a calendar reminder three months before the expiry date as a secondary check. A lapsed domain that gets snapped up by a competitor or domain squatter creates a serious brand recovery problem — prevention is trivially easy.

For businesses with multiple regional or language-specific audiences, you can use different subdomains connected to the same UniLink account — en.yourbrand.com and de.yourbrand.com, for example — with each one set as the primary for a different page variant. This level of organisation keeps your link presence cohesive while still delivering a localised experience for each audience.

Troubleshooting Common Issues