You’re typing away in a server, trying to share a cool resource or a funny cat video, and you realize your message looks like a cluttered mess of blue text and random parameters. It’s annoying. We've all been there. Discord used to be the "wild west" where you just pasted a raw https://www.google.com/search?q=URL and hoped for the best, but things changed. Honestly, learning how to make a hyperlink in Discord is one of those small quality-of-life upgrades that makes you look like you actually know what you're doing in a chat.
It’s not just about aesthetics. It’s about utility.
Markdown is the engine under the hood of Discord. If you've ever used GitHub or Reddit, you're probably familiar with it, but Discord's flavor of Markdown is specific. It’s a simplified version of what developers use, but for a long time, "masked links"—the technical term for hyperlinking text—was restricted to Webhooks and Bots. Regular users were left in the dark. That changed recently, and now anyone can do it, provided they know the secret handshake of brackets and parentheses.
The basic "Masked Link" syntax that actually works
Let’s get straight to the point. To create a hyperlink, you need to use a very specific pattern: [Your Text](URL).
The text you want people to see goes inside the square brackets. The actual web address goes inside the parentheses immediately following. No spaces. If you put a space between the ] and the (, the magic breaks and you just look like someone who can’t type. For example, if you want to link to Google, you type [Google](https://www.google.com).
Simple? Yeah. But there are caveats.
Discord is picky about the "https://" part. If you just type [Google](google.com), it might not always trigger the hyperlink correctly depending on your device or version. Always include the full protocol. It’s a tiny bit more work, but it saves you the embarrassment of a dead link.
Mobile vs. Desktop: Is there a difference?
Surprisingly, no. The Markdown syntax is universal across the Discord ecosystem. Whether you are on an iPhone, an Android tablet, or a beefy Windows rig, the [Text](URL) rule applies. However, the experience of typing it is way worse on mobile. Auto-correct loves to "helpfully" add spaces after brackets or capitalize the first letter of your https://www.google.com/search?q=URL, which will absolutely wreck your hyperlink.
If you're on mobile, double-check your work before hitting send. Long-pressing to paste a https://www.google.com/search?q=URL into parentheses is a thumb-gymnastics routine that nobody enjoys.
Why your Discord hyperlinks might be failing
Sometimes you do everything right and the link still looks like garbage. Why?
Usually, it’s because of special characters. https://www.google.com/search?q=URLs are notorious for containing symbols like underscores, parentheses, or asterisks. Since Discord uses these same characters for other Markdown—like italics or bolding—they can clash. If your https://www.google.com/search?q=URL has a closing parenthesis ) inside it, Discord thinks that’s the end of your link.
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To fix this, you have to use "escaping." Basically, you put a backslash \ before the problematic character. It tells Discord, "Hey, don't treat this as code, just treat it as text."
Another common failure? The "Hidden Preview" trap.
Discord automatically generates an embed (that big box with an image and description) for most links. Sometimes, you want the hyperlink but you don't want the giant box taking up half the screen. To kill the embed, wrap the entire link in angle brackets like this: <[Text](URL)>. Or, more commonly, just put the brackets around the https://www.google.com/search?q=URL inside the parentheses. Actually, the easiest way to hide an embed for any link—hyperlinked or not—is to put < > around the https://www.google.com/search?q=URL itself.
Advanced formatting: Mixing bold and links
You can get fancy. You can make your hyperlinked text bold or italicized. You just have to layer the Markdown correctly. It’s like an onion.
If you want a Bold Hyperlink, you wrap the brackets in double asterisks: **[Text](URL)**.
Don't put the asterisks inside the square brackets unless you want the code to look weird. Keep the link syntax as the core, and wrap the styling around the outside. It’s a clean way to make your "Call to Action" stand out in a busy recruitment channel or a rules list.
The safety problem: Why Discord was hesitant
For years, Discord didn't let us do this. Why? Security.
Phishing is a massive problem on the platform. When you see a raw link like https://steampowered.com/login, you know where you're going. But if I can make a link say [Claim Your Free Nitro](https://scam-site.com), a lot of people are going to get their accounts stolen.
This is why Discord added a "Masked Link Warning."
When you click a hyperlink where the display text is different from the destination, Discord will often pop up a warning box. It’s annoying for legitimate links, but it’s a literal life-saver for people who aren't tech-savvy. If you're running a server, it’s worth telling your members that this warning is normal and they should always check the "Trust this domain" box only if they recognize the site.
Hyperlinks in Embeds and Webhooks
If you’re a server owner or a dev, you’re probably dealing with "Embeds." These are the fancy colored blocks of text sent by bots like MEE6, Dyno, or custom Python scripts.
In these cases, how to make a hyperlink in Discord stays mostly the same, but you have more flexibility. Some bot builders provide a UI where you just plug in the label and the https://www.google.com/search?q=URL. If you’re coding it yourself using a library like discord.py or discord.js, you’re still just passing a string of Markdown to the description or field value.
The beauty of embeds is that they support masked links much more reliably than standard chat messages used to. They also allow for "Markdown Headers" (like the ones I'm using in this article), which regular users can now use too.
Using Headers with Links
Discord recently rolled out support for #, ##, and ### headers. You can actually combine these.
Example: ## [Download the Patch Notes](https://link.com)
This creates a massive, clickable headline. It’s perfect for "Start Here" channels or "Rules" pages. It gives your server a professional feel that separates a "group chat" from a "community."
Real-world applications for server owners
Think about your "Resources" channel. A list of 20 raw https://www.google.com/search?q=URLs looks like a wall of blue vomit. It's overwhelming.
Instead, use a bulleted list with hyperlinks.
It’s cleaner. It’s readable. It works.
Another pro-tip: Use hyperlinks for internal navigation. You can right-click a message in Discord and "Copy Message Link." Then, you can hyperlink text in a different channel that points back to that specific message. It’s like building a local website inside your Discord server.
Troubleshooting common errors
If your link is broken, check these three things immediately:
- The Brackets: Are you using
[]for text and()for the link? People swap these constantly. - The Space: Is there a gap between
]and(? If so, delete it. - The Protocol: Does your link start with
http://orhttps://?
If it's still not working, check if you're in a "Rules Screen" or a specific "Onboarding" menu. Sometimes Discord's specialized UI elements have different rules for what they allow, though this is becoming rarer as they unify the platform's code.
Looking ahead: The future of Discord formatting
Discord is clearly moving toward becoming a more robust document-sharing platform, not just a chat app. With the introduction of "Forum" channels and "Canvas" (their collaborative document feature), Markdown is becoming more essential than ever.
Knowing how to make a hyperlink in Discord is just the entry point. Soon, we'll likely see more "Rich Text" features that don't require us to memorize symbols at all. But for now, being the person who knows how to format a message properly is a legitimate skill in the digital space.
It's about clarity. In a world where we are bombarded with information, the person who can present that information cleanly is the one who gets heard. Or in this case, the one whose link actually gets clicked.
Actionable Steps for Better Discord Formatting
To master your server's appearance, start by auditing your "Welcome" or "Info" channels. Replace those long, ugly https://www.google.com/search?q=URLs with descriptive masked links using the [Text](URL) format. If the resulting embed boxes make the channel too long, wrap your https://www.google.com/search?q=URLs in < > to hide the previews. For key announcements, use the ## header prefix before your hyperlink to create a clear, clickable call-to-action that nobody can miss. Finally, always test your links on both desktop and mobile to ensure that auto-formatting hasn't introduced any stray spaces that break the Markdown.