# Zulink

## Link security

> Category: Links

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## Pages


### Getting started

- [What is Zulink?](https://docs.zulink.co/getting-started/what-is-zulink)
- [Quickstart](https://docs.zulink.co/getting-started/quickstart)
- [Custom domains](https://docs.zulink.co/getting-started/custom-domains)

### Links

- [Creating links](https://docs.zulink.co/links/creating-links)
- [Targeting](https://docs.zulink.co/links/targeting)
- [A/B testing](https://docs.zulink.co/links/a-b-testing)
- [Link security](https://docs.zulink.co/links/link-security)
- [Social previews](https://docs.zulink.co/links/social-previews)

### Design and analytics

- [OpenGraph Designer](https://docs.zulink.co/design-and-analytics/opengraph-designer)
- [Analytics](https://docs.zulink.co/design-and-analytics/analytics)

### Team and plans

- [Members and invitations](https://docs.zulink.co/team-and-plans/members-and-invitations)
- [Roles and permissions](https://docs.zulink.co/team-and-plans/roles-and-permissions)

### AI agents

- [MCP Server](https://docs.zulink.co/ai-agents/mcp-server)

---

# Link security

Three settings decide who gets to the destination and what the rest of the web is allowed to know about it. Password protection sits on the **Security** tab of a link, cloaking and indexing on **Advanced**.

## Password protection

Switch protection on and set a password. Visitors then see a small screen asking for it instead of being redirected, and only continue once they enter the right one.

- Entering the correct password unlocks the link for twelve hours on that device. Within that window the visitor is redirected straight away.
- The password is stored as a hash. It cannot be read back, not by us and not through the interface; the editor only tells you that a password is set. To change it, type a new one. To remove it, switch protection off.
- A protected link is never offered to search engines, whatever the indexing setting says.
- The password protects the redirect, not the destination itself. Anyone who already knows the destination URL can still open it directly.

Password protection is available from the Pro plan upwards.

## Cloaking

With cloaking on, the destination is displayed inside your short link instead of the browser navigating away from it. The address bar keeps showing your short URL for the whole visit.

Two things are worth knowing before you switch it on:

- Many sites refuse to be displayed this way. Most banks, checkout flows and login pages set that restriction, and the visitor then gets an empty frame, so test the link before sharing it.
- Because the browser never leaves your short URL, the destination's own address is not what visitors copy or bookmark.

## Search engine indexing

Links are indexable by default. Switching indexing off asks search engines to leave the short link out of their results. It is the right setting for internal links, campaign links and anything you do not want surfacing in a search.

This is a request to crawlers, in the form crawlers expect, not an access control. Use password protection when access is what you actually need.

Cloaking and indexing are part of the advanced link settings on the Scale plan.