Deep Link

A deep link does not drop the user on a homepage — it routes them directly to a specific product, video, episode, or screen. Think 'open this exact item' instead of 'open the store.'

Two flavors: web deep links (standard URLs to a deep page) and app deep links (open the installed native app rather than the mobile browser). The latter rely on URL schemes like youtube://watch?v=abc or Universal Links (iOS) / App Links (Android).

Practical tip: when you place a YouTube link in your Instagram bio, it opens in Instagram's in-app browser rather than the YouTube app. To force the native app to open, you need a deep linking service or a smart short link like promolinks.net's intelligent deep linking feature.