For people who already have an audience
A link locker, judged on what it costs you
You know what these do. The useful question is how many people you lose per step, which one to pick, and what you should never put behind one.
The only rule that consistently holds
Every step costs completions, and the first one costs least.Going from zero steps to one loses you the people who were never that interested. Going from one to three loses people who were.
That is why Keyway shows per-step completion rather than a single funnel number: the second step is where you find out whether your audience is patient, and the answer is specific to you. Nobody else's benchmark tells you anything useful about your own community.
A practical starting shape: one visit step to the destination that matters most to you, with an invitation note underneath, plus a clear title saying exactly what the file is. Then look at the numbers in a week.
Choosing the step that earns its place
A visit step
Cheapest for the visitor, and it does the thing most creators actually wanted: it puts your channel or community in front of someone at the moment they want something from you. It is not verification and Keyway says so on the page — see why no tool can verify a subscribe.
A code step
The strongest filter available, and the only one where "verified" is truthful. Say the code at 4:12 in the video, or pin it in your community. Someone who did not engage cannot complete it, and unlike a subscribe it cannot be reversed once given.
A message or confirmation step
Near-zero cost. Useful for the things people skip and then complain about: what the file actually contains, which software version it needs, licensing terms. Costs a second and prevents a support message.
An optional step
Marked optional and labelled as such on the page. Use it for the invitation you would like to make but do not want to gate on — it converts better than a requirement, because it reads as a person asking rather than a wall.
What never to put behind a locker
- Anything you want indexed. Crawlers cannot complete steps. Gate the download, publish the article.
- Anything genuinely sensitive. A locker is a speed bump. Whoever completes it has the real URL.
- Anything a paying customer already bought. Adding a step after payment is the fastest way to make a good purchase feel bad.
- Time-critical information. A locker in front of a schedule change or an outage notice is friction on the one thing that should have none.
Expiry and caps, used properly
Expiry is for links whose destination will move. Set 30 days on a beta build and a reposted link stops working on its own instead of pointing at a dead file eight months later.
Unlock caps are for genuine limited drops — the first 100 people. It is enforced in one atomic database statement, so a cap of 100 means 100 even when a hundred people click simultaneously. Do not use one as artificial scarcity on something unlimited; your audience will notice when someone posts a screenshot.
Both are editable afterwards from your management link, so a cap you set too low is a two-click fix rather than a new URL to redistribute.
Questions creators ask
How many steps before people start leaving?
Every step costs completions, and there is no universal number — your audience decides it. What Keyway gives you is the per-step drop-off, so you can measure your own answer rather than guess. Start with one step, add a second only if the first is completing well, and check the numbers a week later.
Should I gate every download?
No. Gate the thing people came specifically to find. Gating something people only mildly want converts badly and costs goodwill — they close the tab and remember that you made them work for it. The correct number of gated links for most creators is one or two at a time.
What is the highest-value step type?
A code step, spoken in a video or posted in a community. It is genuinely verified, it takes a visitor two seconds, and it correlates far better with real engagement than a subscribe click that can be undone thirty seconds later. It is also the only step type where "verified" is an honest word.
How do I stop my link being reposted?
You cannot, and no tool can — anyone who completes the steps holds the real URL. What you can do is set an expiry so a reposted link stops working, or set an unlock cap for a limited drop. Both are enforced on the server. If a file genuinely must not spread, a link locker is the wrong tool.
Will this hurt my SEO?
Only if you gate something you want indexed — a crawler cannot complete steps. Every Keyway unlock page is noindex and excluded from our sitemaps precisely so it never competes with your content. Gate downloads and resources; never gate a page you want to rank.
Set one up and measure it
No account. Your first link takes about two minutes, and Keyway will tell you within a week whether the second step was worth it.