How to Password Protect a Link (Free, in 2 Minutes)

You want to send a few links to a client, a class or a team — but not to the whole internet. A password-protected link does exactly that: anyone can have the URL, only people with the password can open what is behind it.

This guide shows how to password protect a link with Linked.is for free, what your visitors see, how a protected page stays out of search engines, and the one case where a password is not the right tool.

What a password-protected link actually does

A protected link puts a small lock screen in front of the content. The URL can travel through chats, emails and screenshots; without the password, nobody sees the links behind it.

There are three common ways to keep a link page "private". They are not the same:

An unlisted page is only hidden by obscurity: if the URL leaks, the content leaks. A password adds a second piece the leaked URL does not carry.

When you should protect a link with a password

• Client deliverables — drafts, staging sites, shared folders and invoices in one place.
• Courses and workshops — slides, recordings and reading material for paying students.
• Team onboarding — tools, handbooks and accounts a new hire needs in week one.
• Press kits before a launch — assets you want journalists to have, but not the public yet.
• Events — schedules, venue maps and Wi-Fi details for attendees only.
• Family and friends — photo albums and trip plans you would rather not make public.

If the page would be fine on the front page of a search engine, skip the password. Friction costs clicks.

How to password protect a link with Linked.is

Linked.is protects link lists: one URL that opens a page with as many links as you need, each with a title and a short note. To protect a single link, create a list with one item.

1. Open the dashboard and go to Link Lists. Sign up for free if you do not have an account yet.
2. Click "New list" and give it a title and a short description. Visitors only see these after unlocking.
3. Add your links. Each item has a URL, a title and an optional note. Use the arrows to put them in the order you want.
4. Type a password in the Password field. It needs at least 4 characters; longer is better.
5. Save. The Show on Explore switch turns off automatically — protected lists are never shown publicly.
6. Share the URL and the password separately. Send the link in one message and the password in another, or say it out loud in the call.

That's it. The list lives at its own short URL and you can edit the links any time without changing the address you already shared.

What your visitors see

Visitors land on a clean lock screen with the list's name hidden and a single password field. After the right password, the full list opens: titles, notes and links, ready to tap. They can also save a copy of the list to their own account — that, too, requires the password.

Wrong passwords show a short error. After repeated failed attempts, the page stops accepting new guesses for a while, so a list cannot be brute-forced by trying thousands of passwords.

Does a password-protected page show up on Google?

No. A protected list is built to stay out of search:

• Nothing about the list leaves the server before it is unlocked — not the title, not the description, not the links. A crawler only ever sees the lock screen.
• The page is served with a noindex robots tag.
• Protected lists are excluded from the sitemap and from Explore, even if they were public before you added the password.
• The password itself is stored hashed, never as plain text.

If you remove the password later, you decide again whether the list should appear on Explore.

Tips for choosing and sharing the password

• Use a phrase, not a word. "blue-tram-sunday" beats "client1" and is easier to say on a call.
• One password per audience. Students and clients should not share a password, so you can change one without disturbing the other.
• Rotate to revoke access. When a project ends or someone leaves, change the password. Everyone who still needs access gets the new one; the URL stays the same.
• Never put the password in the same message as the link. A forwarded email should not carry both halves.

When a password is not enough

A password protects the list page. Once someone unlocks it, they can see and copy the destination URLs. If one of those destinations is a confidential document, protect it at the source too: use the sharing settings of your file host, so the file itself requires an account or expires.

Think of the protected list as the reception desk, not the vault. It decides who gets the directions; the rooms still need their own locks when the contents are sensitive.

Track which protected links people actually open

Lists are made of ordinary URLs, so you can use Linked.is short links as list items. Every short link counts its own clicks, countries, devices and referrers. That tells you whether the client opened the staging site, or whether students ever reached week three. Add UTM parameters if the destinations feed your own analytics.

Frequently asked questions

Is it free to password protect a link?

Yes. Link lists and password protection are available on the free plan.

Can I password protect a single short link?

Protection works on link lists. Create a list with one link and protect it with a password; the list URL becomes your protected link.

Can I change or remove the password later?

Yes. Type a new password to replace the old one, or use Remove password to open the list again. Changing it immediately locks out everyone who only knows the old password.

What happens if someone shares the URL?

Nothing, without the password. They will see the lock screen and nothing else.

Will search engines index the list after I remove the password?

Only if you turn Show on Explore back on and the list meets the indexing checks. Until then it stays unlisted.

Start with one protected list

Pick the links you keep pasting into the same chats — the client folder, the onboarding docs, the course materials — and put them behind one URL and one password. Create your first list for free, or browse public lists on Explore for ideas on how to structure it.