How to Use a Custom Domain for Your Link in Bio

By default, a link in bio page lives on the platform's own address — yourname on their domain, not yours. Putting it on a domain you already own instead changes very little about how the page works, but it changes a lot about how it reads: the link in your bio now points somewhere that's unmistakably yours, not a shared platform address with your name tacked onto the end of it.

Why it matters

A domain you own is portable in a way a platform's own address never is — it's yours regardless of which tool sits behind it today or years from now. It also reads as more trustworthy to a visitor deciding whether to tap a link from a stranger's bio, and it lets everything you already use that domain for (email, a real website, printed material) share one consistent address with your link in bio page.

Subdomain or bare domain?

A subdomain (something like links.yoursite.com) is the easier, more universally compatible option — it uses an ordinary DNS record every provider supports, and it doesn't touch whatever's already running at your bare domain, like an existing website. A bare domain (yoursite.com itself) reads cleaner in a bio, but needs a kind of DNS record not every provider offers, and it can't be doing anything else at the same time — if a site already lives there, connecting your link in bio page to the bare domain replaces it.

If you're not sure, start with a subdomain. It works everywhere, sets up in minutes, and you can always move to the bare domain later if your provider supports it and nothing else needs that address.

What setup generally involves

The exact steps vary a little by tool, but the shape is the same everywhere: you add a DNS record at wherever you manage that domain (your registrar or DNS provider), then tell the tool to go check for it. DNS changes aren't instant — a record can take anywhere from a few minutes up to 48 hours to fully propagate — so a first check coming back empty usually just means giving it more time, not that anything's wrong. Once the check succeeds, an HTTPS certificate for your domain gets issued automatically; there's nothing to configure by hand.

strands' own version of this is a Custom domain page, owner-only and gated behind an active subscription the same as publishing itself — one connected domain per profile today. See Using your own custom domain for the full walkthrough, including what to do if your DNS provider doesn't support a bare domain.

Your default address keeps working

Connecting a custom domain doesn't retire the address your page already had — both keep working side by side, with no redirect between them. That matters because a link in bio address tends to end up in places you can't easily update: an old caption, a printed flyer, a saved bookmark. Adding a custom domain gives you a better address to share going forward without breaking anything already pointing at the old one.

A few practical tips

• Pick a domain close to your actual handle, so the two stay easy to say and remember together
• Once it's live, use the custom domain everywhere going forward — your social bios, your email signature, printed material — so you're not splitting traffic across two addresses
• If you print the address anywhere permanent (packaging, a sign, a business card), a custom domain ages better than a platform-branded one, since it's yours regardless of what's running behind it later

One address, two jobs

A custom domain is about where your page lives. What a visitor actually does once they land there — scan a code and save your contact info, or click through to your links — is a separate question; see Digital Business Card vs. Link in Bio for how those two compare.