# Data Overview

Bitly exposes data across link management, click analytics, and account structure. You can pull data at the link level, group level, or organization level depending on how your Bitly account is set up.

## Entities overview

| Entity                      | Granularity            | Best used for                                  |
| --------------------------- | ---------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- |
| Bitlinks                    | Per link               | Auditing all shortened URLs and their settings |
| Bitlink clicks              | Per link + date range  | Click performance reporting                    |
| Bsds                        | Per domain             | Managing branded short domains                 |
| Campaigns                   | Per campaign           | Campaign-level reporting                       |
| Channels                    | Per channel            | Channel attribution                            |
| Groups                      | Per group              | Group management and structure                 |
| Group preferences           | Per group              | Group configuration audit                      |
| Group shorten counts        | Per group + date range | Volume tracking per team                       |
| Organizations               | Per org                | Top-level account info                         |
| Organization shorten counts | Per org + date range   | Org-wide link volume tracking                  |
| QR codes                    | Per QR code            | QR campaign tracking                           |

## Available fields

#### Bitlinks

| Field            | Description                         |
| ---------------- | ----------------------------------- |
| id               | Unique Bitlink identifier           |
| link             | The shortened Bitly URL             |
| long\_url        | The original destination URL        |
| title            | Link title                          |
| created\_at      | Timestamp when the link was created |
| archived         | Whether the link is archived        |
| tags             | Tags applied to the link            |
| custom\_bitlinks | Any custom back-halves applied      |
| group\_guid      | The group this link belongs to      |

#### Bitlink clicks

| Field  | Description                  |
| ------ | ---------------------------- |
| id     | Bitlink identifier           |
| date   | Date of the click data point |
| clicks | Number of clicks recorded    |

#### Campaigns

| Field       | Description             |
| ----------- | ----------------------- |
| guid        | Campaign unique ID      |
| name        | Campaign name           |
| description | Campaign description    |
| created     | Creation timestamp      |
| modified    | Last modified timestamp |
| group\_guid | Associated group        |

#### Groups & Organizations

| Field              | Description                       |
| ------------------ | --------------------------------- |
| guid               | Unique identifier                 |
| name               | Group or org name                 |
| is\_active         | Whether the group/org is active   |
| created            | Creation timestamp                |
| modified           | Last modified timestamp           |
| organization\_guid | Parent organization (groups only) |
| bsd\_count         | Number of branded short domains   |
| link\_count        | Total links in the group          |

#### Group / Organization shorten counts

| Field           | Description                  |
| --------------- | ---------------------------- |
| unit\_reference | Date reference for the count |
| value           | Number of links shortened    |
| unit            | Time unit (day, week, month) |

#### QR codes

| Field       | Description                   |
| ----------- | ----------------------------- |
| id          | QR code unique ID             |
| title       | QR code title                 |
| created\_at | Creation timestamp            |
| bitlink\_id | Associated Bitlink            |
| is\_paused  | Whether the QR code is paused |

## Common field combinations

* **Bitlinks + Bitlink clicks** — Join on `id` to combine link metadata with click performance in a single table
* **Campaigns + Channels + Bitlinks** — Build a full campaign attribution view linking channels down to individual URLs
* **Group shorten counts + Groups** — Join on `group_guid` to add group names to volume data
* **Organization shorten counts** over time — Track how link creation volume changes month over month

## Use cases by role

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="Marketers" %}

* Track which shortened links drive the most clicks across campaigns
* Compare click performance across channels (email, social, paid)
* Use **Append** to combine Bitlink click data from multiple groups into a single report
* Send link performance data to ChatGPT or Gemini to generate campaign summaries automatically
  {% endtab %}

{% tab title="Content teams" %}

* Audit all active Bitlinks and their destination URLs to spot broken or outdated links
* Monitor QR code engagement for print and offline campaigns
* Tag-based reporting: filter Bitlinks by tags to see performance by content type
  {% endtab %}

{% tab title="Marketing ops" %}

* Track group-level shorten counts to understand which teams are most active
* Monitor branded short domain usage across the organization
* Build automated dashboards in Looker Studio or BigQuery fed by scheduled Coupler.io data flows
  {% endtab %}
  {% endtabs %}

## Platform-specific notes

* Click data is only available for the date range you specify using the start and end date parameters — there is no default lookback period
* Free Bitly accounts have limited API access; some entities (e.g., Campaigns, Channels, Bsds) may require a paid plan
* Bitly's API returns click data in time-series units — daily granularity is the most common
* `group_guid` is the key field for joining groups-related entities; keep it in your destination for cross-entity joins
* QR code data reflects the QR code object itself — click-level QR analytics are part of the Bitlink clicks entity via the associated `bitlink_id`