Quick Start Guide

Get up and running with NextLinks in under 5 minutes. This guide covers everything you need to start tracking links and conversions.

What You'll Learn

Create your first tracking link
Understand the click_id parameter
Set up conversion tracking
View your analytics dashboard
1

Create Your Account

Sign up for a free NextLinks account. No credit card required to get started.

  1. Click the "Get Started" button
  2. Enter your email and create a password
  3. Verify your email address
  4. Create your first workspace (team account)
2

Create Your First NextLink

NextLinks are tracking URLs that redirect users to your destination while capturing valuable click data.

Basic Link Setup

  1. Navigate to Links in your dashboard
  2. Click Create Link
  3. Enter your destination URL (where users will land)
  4. Optionally customize the slug (the short URL path)
  5. Add tags to organize your links
  6. Click Create

Example

Destination: https://yoursite.com/landing-page

Your NextLink: https://nextlinks.ai/c/abc123

How Click Tracking Works

When someone clicks your NextLink, they're redirected to your destination URL with a unique click_id parameter appended. This ID is essential for tracking conversions later.

https://yoursite.com/landing-page?click_id=abc123-def456-ghi789
3

Set Up Conversion Tracking

Track when users complete desired actions (purchases, signups, etc.) by sending conversion data back to NextLinks.

Create an Event Configuration

  1. Go to Attribution → Events
  2. Click Create Event
  3. Name your event (e.g., "Purchase", "Signup")
  4. Copy your Postback Key (pbk)

Send Conversions (3 Options)

Option 1: Server-Side Postback (Recommended)

// When a conversion happens on your server
fetch(`https://nextlinks.ai/api/event?click_id=${clickId}&pbk=YOUR_POSTBACK_KEY&value=49.99`);

Option 2: JavaScript Pixel

<!-- Add to your thank you page -->
<script src="https://nextlinks.ai/pixel.js" data-value="49.99"></script>

Option 3: Image Pixel

<img src="https://nextlinks.ai/api/event?click_id=CLICK_ID&pbk=YOUR_KEY&value=49.99" width="1" height="1" />
4

View Your Analytics

Monitor your link performance with real-time analytics.

Dashboard

  • • Total clicks overview
  • • Conversion metrics
  • • Revenue tracking
  • • Geographic distribution

Reports

  • • Filter by date range
  • • Group by link, tag, or device
  • • Export to CSV
  • • Compare time periods

Note on Data Freshness

Reports use aggregated data that refreshes periodically. For the most current data, use the "Refresh Data" button in the Reports section.

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Optional: Add a Custom Domain

Use your own domain for branded tracking links (e.g., go.yourcompany.com).

  1. Go to Settings → Domains
  2. Click Add Domain
  3. Enter your subdomain (e.g., go.yourcompany.com)
  4. Add a CNAME record pointing to cname.nextlinks.ai
  5. Verify domain ownership