How to Create Branded Links and QR Codes With Your Web Domain

Published on February 27, 2019

According to eMarketer, adults in the U.S. spent 90% of smartphone time and 77% of tablet time in mobile apps vs. browsers in 2018. Linking to apps has become increasingly important for marketers and agencies to increase conversion. Routing traffic to the right place in social apps and brand apps can lead to higher conversion, revenue and return on ad spend.

Combining your brand domain strategy with app deep linking can help agencies and marketers promote brands further and ultimately convey to consumers that they are being sent to the right place in the app by a company they trust. Using a brand domain for app deep linking can also make it easier to operate across today's complex online advertising ecosystem while satisfying the security requirements of different antivirus platforms.

Creating App Deep Linking for iOS and Android with Branded Domains a link using a brand domain that can open a social app or brand app on iOS or Android from the same link may sound like a technical project that marketers or agencies cannot easily implement. In fact, most app deep linking solutions require the installation of an SDK. Cloud-based solutions like URLgenius, however, take only minutes to setup and configure. Consider this Facebook event link for a friends and family promotion at Macy’s.

https://www.facebook.com/events/394977914375155/

Facebook URLs typically will not open the Facebook app for iOS or Android from email and other channels and instead requires the visitor to login to the Facebook mobile website where abandon rates are high.

Updating the link with a cloud-based, deep linking platform like URLgenius will enable the link to open the Facebook app directly to the event page. When updated, the link would look something like this:

https://urlgeni.us/facebook/friends-and-family-promotion

This URLgenius link will open the Facebook mobile app without having to login so the visitor can express their interest in the event immediately. There is still no indication in the domain, however, that this event is related to a Macy’s promotion.

Platforms like URLgenius enable marketers or agencies to go a step further by allowing the use of a brand domain in the app deep link making it look like this:

https://deeplink.macys.com/facebook/friends-and-family-promotion
(For illustrative purposes only)

This can be especially helpful to agencies and marketers working with brands that have high recognition or where click-through rates on branded links have proven to be higher.

Important Notice about Firebase Dynamic Links: On August 25, 2025, Google is shutting down Firebase Dynamic Links which is part of the Firebase platform offering app deep linking capabilities. Google is no longer recommending Firebase Dynamic Links for new mobile app development projects. If you're using that technology for your linking or QR codes make sure to consider a replacement like URLgenius.

Create App Links and QR Codes With Your Domain

How to Setup App Deep Linking for iOS and Android with Brand Domains Another benefit of branded URLs is that they can be used along with QR codes for offline marketing. Deep linking platforms like URLgenius enable marketers create QR codes easily without technical resources.

You should also be able to customize your QR code with different colors, your brand's logo and make sure you select the right density for the right scanning distance.

For example, if Macy’s wanted to create a branded URL and QR code designed to drive traffic to the events section of the Macy’s Facebook profile, the link would look like this:

deeplink.macys.com/facebook/events

App Linking with Branded Domains No SDK Required

Cloud-based platforms like URLgenius do not require an SDK to setup app deep linking with brand domains just follow these steps:

URLgenius has an easy step-by-step process for getting started
Ask your your hosting provider setup the domain or subdomain
Note that you must be the owner of the domain (e.g. 'Macys')
Make sure to setup the http and https (secure) versions
Create a “CName record” and point it to URLgenius at brand.urlgeni.us
The CName record setup looks like this and adding a new record only takes a minute

Pro Tip: When choosing a subdomain for your URLgenius links consider a word like 'app', “social”, 'play' or “go” especially if you plan to link into different apps.

The 'Name' field may only require the name of the subdomain not the full path
Make sure to set the CName record to 'DNS Only' not 'Proxied'
Once the CName record is in place, our servers should be able to see it
We will check it and turn on your domain for app deep linking
When you receive an email that says 'Finalizing Setup' that means are in the approval queue
All your existing and future links will use your domain instead of urlgeni.us

App deep linking with brand domains extends your brand to your promotional app engagement. Make sure to avoid setup fees and unnecessary SDKs. Zero tech requirements and free testing make app deep linking with brand domains a win\win for marketers and agencies looking for a unique competitive advantage.

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