Why is my Bitly link not working? Causes and fixes

A Bitly link passes through three parts: the short link itself, Bitly's redirect, and the page it points to. When a click fails, one of those three broke, and each fails in its own way. Here's how to tell which, using Bitly's own help pages.

The link

bit.ly/Spring-Menu

• Typo or wrong capitals
• Deleted or expired
• Never existed

Bitly's redirect

Bitly

• Warning or blocked page
• Ad page on free plans
• Blocked by a network

Your pagecheck first

yourcafe.com/menu

• Moved or deleted (404)
• Certificate expired
• Server down

Check where the link goes

Before anything else, find out where the link is supposed to lead. Paste it into Bitly's Link Checker, which shows the destination without opening it. Bitly's Trust Center also suggests adding a + to the end of a Bitly link to see its destination page.

If the destination looks right, open it directly in your browser. If it fails there too, the problem is the page, not Bitly.

Problems with the link itself

A typo, or the wrong capitals

Bitly links are case-sensitive: bit.ly/Spring-Menu and bit.ly/spring-menu can lead to different places, or to an error page (Bitly Support). Bitly recommends copying and pasting links rather than typing them, and says typos are a common cause of failures, especially on phones.

The link never existed

If a link leads to Bitly's error page, it may simply be invalid. Bitly notes that AI-written text sometimes contains made-up bit.ly links that go nowhere or somewhere unexpected (Bitly Support).

The link was deleted or expired

A deleted Bitly link returns a 404. A hidden one keeps working (Bitly Support). Links never expire by default, but some paid plans can set an expiry date, after which the link goes to a Bitly "410" page (Bitly Support).

Problems with the page it points to

This is the failure a short link can't see. The link redirects perfectly, and the page at the other end is gone:

• Moved or deleted. A redesign or a new address leaves the old one returning "404 Not Found".
• Certificate expired. The browser shows a warning that the connection isn't private.
• Down. The server doesn't answer, and the browser says the site can't be reached.

Bitly lists a destination that's down or invalid as the first reason a link shows an error (Bitly Support). The fix is on your side: restore the page, or redirect its old address to the new one. On a paid Bitly plan you can also point the link somewhere new, and any QR code for that link follows (Bitly Support). Changing a destination isn't available on the free plan.

When Bitly steps in

A warning or blocked page

Bitly shows a warning page instead of redirecting when a link is flagged as suspicious. Triggers include reports from users or blocklists, content Bitly detects as malicious or inappropriate, a destination hidden behind another shortener, and pages that imitate another site (Bitly Support). A "warn" page still shows the long address; a "blocked" page hides it when visiting could cause harm (Bitly). If your own link was flagged by mistake, the warning page links to an appeal form.

The ad page on free links

Since February 2025, links from free Bitly accounts open a preview page with an ad before your page (Coywolf). The link still works, but every visitor sees an ad before your page (what Bitly's free plan includes). A paid plan removes it (Bitly Support).

Links made with Bitly's old no-account shortener show the page too, and they can't be claimed or edited; the only way to drop the ad is to recreate them in a paid account (Bitly Support).

Custom domain problems

If your links use your own domain, like go.yourbrand.com, every one of them depends on that domain's settings:

• DNS no longer points to Bitly. Bitly calls wrong DNS settings the most common custom-domain problem, and it breaks every link on the domain at once (Bitly Support).
• You removed the domain or downgraded. Bitly stops renewing the domain's certificate. The links keep redirecting, but visitors can see a "not secure" warning (Bitly Support).
• A domain Bitly gave you with a paid plan expired. These complimentary domains stop working when their registration lapses (Bitly Support).

When the network blocks it

• Work and school networks. Some firewalls block bit.ly, or every .ly address. Bitly suggests asking IT to allow bit.ly and bitly.com (Bitly Support).
• Text messages. Many carriers filter texts that contain links from public shorteners. Twilio tells senders to avoid "shared public URL shorteners, such as TinyUrl or free Bitly links" and to use a dedicated domain instead (Twilio). Bitly gives the same advice (Bitly Support).
• Bitly itself is down. If many links fail at once, check status.bitly.com.

Keep it from happening again

• Paste links, never retype them, and test them on a phone before you send or print them.
• Use your own domain for links in texts and print, so filters trust them and you can move providers later.
• Watch the pages, not just the links. The page behind a working short link can break at any time, and the link itself can't tell you when it does.

That last gap is the one ndle fills. ndle is a free URL shortener that checks the page behind every short link every 30 minutes, and flags it on your Monitoring page when it returns a 404, times out or fails its certificate check. Links open with no ad page in between, they don't expire unless you set a date, and the free plan includes one custom domain.