How to create a custom short URL

A custom short URL replaces the random code with wording you choose, so zurl.world/a8K3xPq becomes zurl.world/spring-sale. It is the same redirect underneath; the difference is entirely in how it reads.

Creating one

1. Create a free account. Custom endings need one so the name stays associated with you and cannot be taken over.
2. Open the custom URL shortener and paste your destination.
3. Expand the options and type your preferred ending.
4. Select Shorten URL. If the name is free, it is yours.

The rules

Custom endings must:

• be between 3 and 48 characters
• use only lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens and underscores
• start and end with a letter or number
• avoid repeated separators such as -- or __

Some names are unavailable regardless:

• Application routes such as api, dashboard and pricing, which would shadow real pages.
• Impersonation risks such as verify, reset-password and billing. A link at zurl.world/verify-account would be a gift to phishing campaigns, so those names are permanently reserved.

Why everything is lowercase

Custom endings are folded to lowercase. Typing Spring-Sale gives you spring-sale.

This is deliberate. Mixed-case links generate a steady stream of "the link doesn’t work" reports from people who typed it with different capitalisation. Worse, allowing case sensitivity means /Sale and /sale could be owned by two different people — an obvious impersonation vector. Lowercase removes both problems.

Choosing a good name

Keep it short. The point is brevity. zurl.world/q3-report beats zurl.world/quarterly-financial-report-q3-2026.

Make it predictable. Someone who half-remembers the link should be able to guess it. docs, pricing-2026 and demo work well.

Avoid ambiguous characters when it will be spoken. If you will read the link aloud, avoid names where a hyphen or underscore is easy to mishear. Single words are safest.

Add a date only if the link is genuinely time-bound. spring-sale-2026 is right if there will be another next year; spring-sale is better if you would rather reuse the same link and repoint it.

When the name is taken

Each ending can only be claimed once across the whole service, so short common words go early. You will see "That custom alias is already in use."

Reasonable fallbacks:

• Add a qualifier: acme-demo rather than demo.
• Add a year when the link is time-bound: pricing-2026.
• Use your organisation name as a prefix, which also makes the link more credible.

Custom endings and trust

A readable ending makes a link easier to trust, because the reader gets some signal about where it goes. That cuts both ways: a convincing-looking custom link is also more effective in a phishing attempt, which is exactly why account-sensitive words are reserved and why anyone can report a link.

Changing it later

The ending itself is fixed once created — changing it would break every copy already shared. The destination can be updated at any time from your dashboard, which is the more useful capability: print a QR code with a custom link on it, and you can repoint it later without reprinting anything.