Navigating our website is an exciting journey, and we understand that encountering unfamiliar terms and phrases can sometimes be a bit like entering a new realm. To ensure you feel confident and informed as you explore the BLINK platform, we've compiled a comprehensive glossary. This handy reference guide is designed to demystify the language you may come across in the platform.
Whether you're a seasoned user or a newcomer, this glossary serves as your go-to resource for decoding terms, industry jargon, and unique expressions specific to our platform. We believe that clarity is key to a seamless user experience, and our glossary is here to provide just that.
General/Short Links
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
Keyword | A keyword is the string of characters after the forward slash in a short link. BLINK automatically generates a randomized keyword, but the keyword can be customized during link creation. |
| Short URL / Short Link | URL containing branded domain and keyword that redirects to another destination. |
| Long URL | Destination URL. This is the destination the end-user lands when they are redirected from a short link. |
| Full URL | Long URL + additional URL Attributes |
| Redirect Type | Redirect type allows users to set a short link as a 301 Permanent Redirect or 307 Temporary Redirect when creating or editing a short link. |
| Owner | Owner is a picklist-type system attribute containing the first name and last names of all users in that domain. When a link is first created, the link owner is the user that added the link, but the link owner may be changed to another user at any time. |
| Default Redirect Type | Account-specific setting that allows users to set a default redirect type for their domain. All the links created by that user in that domain will by default have the redirect type configured in the user’s account settings. |
| Tags | Tags allow for users to organize links in order to simplify managing links and analyzing link click data. Tags can be social media channels, campaigns, departments, etc. Links and analytics can be filtered by tags. |
| BLINK ID | Each short link is given an auto-generated unique BLINK ID. |
| Attributes | Attributes are defining metadata elements that describe some aspect of the link. Types of attributes are picklist, checkbox, currency, text, or number. |
| Parameters | Parameters are defining metadata elements that describe some aspect of the link. |
| Values | Each parameter can have pre-defined attribute values for ease in link creation by users of an account. |
| Link Templates | Link templates are a set of chosen attributes that are used in a collection to create the associated metadata for a link. |
| Export | Export allows user to convert the tables' information (link’s table, attribute table , user’s table , template’s table) into CSV file and receive an email of that data. |
| Import | Import allows users to bulk upload a CSV file with up to 10,000 links. |
| Download Import Template | The Import template includes headers to help users with the correct formatting for a link import. |
| Managing Views | Managing views functionality allows users to create a customized links table view and share it with others. |
| Duplicate Link | Allows users to create a new link with the same settings, parameters, etc. with a new BL.INK ID |
| Link Variants | Allows users create different variants (Same long URL, Same Attributes, different values) of the already created link |
| Hash | see Keyword |
| Slug | see Keyword |
| Vanity URL | see Short Link |
| Link Owner | When a link is first created, the link owner is the user that added the link, but the link owner may be changed to another user at any time. |
| 307 Temporary | 307 is the HTTP status code that is sent when a document is temporarily available at a different URL. 307 tells search engines that this redirect may change in the future, so they will not index the link and always check with BLINK for the most recent content. 307 type redirects are handy if the Target URL may change at some point. BLINK recommends a 307 as your default redirect type. |
| 301 Permanent | A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect that passes SEO ranking power to the redirected page. 301 refers to the HTTP status code for this type of redirect. |
| Archive Date | Archive dates allow the users to automatically archive a link on a set date. When a link is archived, the link will be “unpublished” but BLINK will preserve the link and the historical click data in the dashboard. If a user clicks on an archived link, they will be taken to the URL specified in a user’s Home Page setting. |
| Delete Date | The Delete date automatically deletes the link on the scheduled date. When a link is deleted, the link is completely removed along with all of the historical click data. If a user clicks on a deleted link, we’ll display the custom 404 page set in the user’s admin settings. |
| Home Page | The Home Page setting is set under Admin > Root Pages. The Home Page setting tells the root of the domain to redirect to a specific URL. This means that if a visitor navigates directly to the domain, we’ll redirect them to a relevant website or content. |
| Custom 404 Page | The Custom 404 Page setting allows users to set up a destination for a link that does not exist. If a link is deleted or broken, specifying a custom 404 destination will prevent the user from seeing BLINK's 404 page, and they’ll instead see a branded 404 or be redirected to relevant content. |
| Domain | A domain is used as a web address for online content. Example: bl.ink is a domain name. Typically, it’s seen after the www in a web address or after the @ in an email address. |
| Clicks | The number of times a shortened link has been clicked by users. |
| Engagement | The sum of clicks and scans by users. |
QR Codes
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Body | The internal part of the QR code that exclude the eyes and the frames around them. |
| Outer Eye | The outer eye of a QR code is one of the three square patterns that are located in the corners of the QR code. |
| Inner Eye | The inner eye of a QR code refers to the smaller square pattern that is located inside the three larger alignment patterns in the corners of the code. |
| SVG | Scalable Vector Graphics is an XML-based vector image format for defining two-dimensional graphics, having support for interactivity and animation. Scales to any size, small file size, very useful in digital graphics. |
| PNG | Portable Network Graphics is a raster-graphics file format that supports lossless data compression. Useful in digital settings. |
| EPS | Encapsulated Postscript files are a vector file format often required for professional and high-quality image printing. PostScript printers and image setters typically use EPS for print applications. |
| Scans | see Clicks. If a user scans a BLINK QR code, it will show as a click in the BLINK analytics because the QR code is connected to a short link. |
Users & Permissions
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Invite Users | Invite users allows to add new users to the account |
| Account Management | Contains users information, support functionalities for domains |
| User | Ordinary user, with basic permissions. Can only view their own links in particular domains. |
| Reporting Administrator | User who can view everything on a particular domain |
| Link Administrator | User who has access to all links in a particular domain |
| Domain Administrator | The super user of a particular domain |
| Billing Administrator | User who has full access to all domains of the account, and manages the billing, (account creator) |
| Account Administrator | User who has full access to all domains of the account |
| PowerPage Admin | A user that has permissions to update PowerPage settings and publish blocks to a PowerPage. |
| PowerPage Owner | The user that owns the PowerPage has full access to manage the PowerPage, add users to the PowerPage, and publish image blocks. |
| Roles | Roles are the different permission levels we grant for tiered access to BLINK. |
| Add Users | Allows admins to add new users to the account |
Enterprise Features
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| PowerPages | PowerPages allow users to create a single short link that points to a customized landing page for the bio in social media profiles. On the landing page, custom image blocks are added to connect your audience to additional content, relevant information, promotions, website, and more. |
| Broken Link Report | BLINK will check each link within the database on a recurring basis and identify if the link returns a 404 response (Page Not Found) and flag these link. A daily email report will be sent to all site administrators indicating all links found resulting in an error. |
| Audit Logs | A transaction log including user and timestamp for the following activities: Login, Login Failure, Edit Link, Delete Link, Add Link, Clear Link, Delete User. |
| E-Link | E-Link allows for a non/partially authenticated audience to create brand-approved short links used in conjunction with pre-approved destination domains. Managed through a single web page (hosted externally or within an intranet), anyone may request a branded short link if it is pointing to a brand-approved domain. |
| QR Templates | QR Templates allow admins to create predesigned QR codes that adhere to their own branding guidelines and can be applied to any short link. Admins can create account-wide templates for users to generate QR codes with approved branding, colors, logos, etc. |
| Default QR code templates | The user can set a default QR code for each domain so that each link created in that domain will contain automatically generated QR code with a specific design. |
| Groups | Groups allows for multiple users to collaborate on links to ensure everyone has the access they need when they need it. |
| Shared Links | Shared links are links that are added to existing groups. They allow users to collaborate on new and existing links and view reporting and analytics data. |
| Image Block | An image block is an image that is connected to a short link on a PowerPage. Publishers may upload a square image (200x200) to publish the link to the PowerPage |
| Block | See Image block |
API Terminology
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Bulk Link Loader | In the instance where very large volumes of links are needed to be imported quickly, BLINK will provide a bulk loading function via API. This function allows for the sending of a customized import file via authenticated API. |
| Dupe Check | An API function that searches the index for an exact match to the long URL prior to returning a short link. If an exact match is found, the existing short link is returned. If not, a new short link is created. When disabled, the API returns a new, unique short link every time the long URL is sent, even if it already exists. |
Errors
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| 404 | A 404 error is a response code indicating that the content does not exist. |
| 500 | A 500 error is a response code that happens when the server encounters an unexpected problem that prevents the request from completing. |
Have additional questions? Reach out to BLINK support.